CHAFFINCH. 69 



British Islands. His gay appearance, peculiar call-note and 

 merry song, which, beginning with the first open weather, is 

 one of the earliest indications of returning spring, also ren- 

 der him a general favourite, notwithstanding a certain amount 

 of damage he is accused of doing in gardens, when the seeds 

 are newly sown. On the Continent, especially in Germany, 

 he is one of the most highly-valued cage-birds, and in France 

 his lively colours and demeanour have long made the phrase 

 " Gai comme Pinson"* proverbial. From his perch on some 

 moderately high twig the often-repeated burst of his strain 

 attracts attention throughout the vernal season till midsum- 

 mer, and is hardly overpowered by any other, even among 

 the general choir of songsters, while the performer is easily 

 descried and recognized by his variegated plumage. At this 

 time, too, he frequently displays to advantage the command 

 of wing he possesses, and, springing aloft for two or three 

 yards to seize a passing insect, he proves an apt flycatcher, 

 returning to his perch to treat his partner with another song 

 and then repeating the aerial evolution. His habit of elevat- 

 ing the feathers of the sinciput, which seems to be a peculiarity 

 common to all the species of his genus, gives him a pert air, 

 not at all inappropriate to the boldness and loudness with 

 which his voice proclaims his presence. In winter also he 

 may be seen, somewhat subdued indeed but still sprightly 

 and neat, busily engaged with his mates wherever food is to 

 be found, whether intently searching for seeds among the 

 chaff at the barn-door and round the stacks in the rickyard, 

 or nimbly making his way in a succession of short hops 

 across some fallow field or smooth lawn in quest of any 

 sprouting weed. 



* The name Pinson, in Italian Plnsione, comes directly from the Low-Latin 

 Pincio, which is supposed to be derived from or cognate with the Celtic Pine 

 (Littre", Diet, de la Lang. Franc, ii p. 1125). This last word we have still as a 

 local name in England in the forms " Pink," "Spink " and " Twink," obviously 

 owing their origin to the bird's call-note ; and in like manner has arisen the German 

 Fink and our "Finch." Pinson, though often spelt Pinfon, has, according to 

 M. Littre, nothing to do with the verb pinker, as Belon and some others have 

 thought. In the North of England and in Scotland the Chaffinch is known by 

 names of a very different kind, as " Scobby," " Shelly " and "Shilfa." 



