PEINGILLID^E. 91 



composed externally of roots and moss, but more carefully 

 constructed as it advances towards completion, of finer 

 roots, succeeded by a substantial, warm, and compact lining 

 of hair. The eggs, four or five in number, are of a pale- 

 bluish or greenish white, spotted, chiefly at the larger end, 

 with purple or reddish-brown. The Greenfinch is not in 

 request as a cage bird ; yet some of its notes in a wild state 

 are very sweet, and the male* is a bird of much beauty. 

 It is a species accounted common in our own island and 

 throughout the European continent. (PL X. fig. 74.) 



THE GOLDFINCH. Carduelis elegans. This sweet little 

 bird extends over the greater portion of Europe, but be- 

 comes rarer towards the north. It is a docile and gentle 

 little creature, and builds one of the most beautiful nests 

 with which we are acquainted. Orchards, gardens, shrub- 

 beries, and pleasure-grounds are more frequently the spots 

 chosen by it for nidification, we think, than uncultivated 

 parts. Externally, moss, wool, and lichens compose much 

 of the nest, which internally is lined with soft materials, as 

 hair and down ; the nest is usually more rounded in its 

 form, and more closely felted together, than that of the 

 Chaffinch. The eggs, four or five in number, closely 

 resemble the Linnet's, except that they are less. They are 



