88 THE CHAFFINCH 



reflection upon human nature pronounced by the First 

 Lord in All's Well that Ends Well 'The web of our 

 life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. Our 

 virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them 

 not, and our crimes would despair if they were not 

 cherished by our virtues.' Be the crimes of the chaf- 

 finch what they may, this cheerful little bird pursues 

 one industry so sedulously as to win grateful regard 

 from me as an amateur gardener. He treats young 

 groundsel as a delicacy. In spring, when that truly 

 irrepressible weed shoots from the ground in myriads, 

 chaffinches are ever busy in our borders, nibbling the 

 young green of groundsel close down to the ground. 

 It is true that the roots are left to spring again when 

 chaffinches are intent upon other fare, but the seeding 

 of the groundsel is delayed, giving time for the hoe to 

 be plied for its extermination. Presently, towards the 

 middle of June, the wood forget-me-not (Myosotis 

 sylvatica), which takes possession of wide spaces in 

 our borders, will ripen its seed, beloved of goldfinches, 

 and we shall enjoy seeing them, brightest and best of 

 British finches, fluttering incessantly in the tangle. 



When Linnaeus christened the chaffinch Fringilla 

 ccelebs the celibate finch he prepared a puzzle for 

 British observers, to whom the bird is most familiarly 

 known as a pattern of matrimonial fidelity and a con- 

 summate nursery architect. The specific name con- 

 ferred on this species by Linnaeus was suggested by the 

 habit which chaffinches follow in Scandinavia (and to 

 a less extent in the northern parts of Britain), namely, 

 that which causes the cock and hen birds to gather 



