96 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



our British birds to which we are more partial than the 

 Chaffinch ; so beautiful in its plumage, so lively in its 

 manners, so cheerful in its note, so skilful and tasteful in 

 the construction of its nest; and abundant as are the speci- 

 mens of its skill in architecture, we can seldom meet with 

 them without admiring their tasteful forms and highly orna- 

 mented appearance. Built close to the trunk of some 

 gnarled oak or lofty elm, in an ivy-covered thorn, or in the 

 branches of an evergreen shrub, as also in many other situa- 

 tions, it is composed externally of moss enriched with sil- 

 very lichens, and is lined within with hair and a few feathers, 

 or other warm and soft substances. The eggs, four or five 

 in number, have a ground-colour of a greenish hue, clouded 

 with pink, and spotted with purple or reddish-brown. The 

 Chaffinch is esteemed in Germany, we are told, for its 

 powers of song. The author of a pleasing little work en- 

 titled ' Our Song Birds/ says, "A commentator on Bechstein 

 informs us that, in Euhl, a manufacturing town of Thu- 

 ringia, the inhabitants, mostly cutlers, have such a passion 

 for Chaffinches, that some have gone ninety miles from home 

 to take with birdlime one of these birds, distinguished for 

 its song, and have given one of their cows for a fine song- 

 ster ; from which has arisen their common expression, ' such 



