60 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



Another very familiar dweller in the lanes and 

 widely the hedges is the CHAFFINCH (Fringilla ccelebs). 

 distributed. j t j g a kj rc j Q f fought- anc [ conspicuous plumage too, 



especially during flight, when the white-barred 

 wings and the white on the outer tail feathers are 

 fully displayed. His slate-gray head, chestnut 

 mantle, yellowish green rump, and delicate reddish 

 pink underparts are very marked. Like the 

 Buntings, he is a most persistent singer, especially 

 in early spring. His short, loud, and cheerful 

 song is one of the first signs of the changing year, 

 and sounds particularly grateful to the ear on the 

 bright windy days of March. His monotonous 

 note of pink distinguishes him at once from all 

 other birds of the hedgerows. He sings in- 

 cessantly from March to May, then less frequently 

 on to the middle of July, when his voice is lost in 

 the moult. Sometimes, however, he regains his 

 music in September, but only under very excep- 

 tional circumstances. The Chaffinch pairs early 

 in the spring, but nest-building rarely commences 

 before the first or second week in April, much 

 later than that if the season be at all backward. 

 Of all the pretty nests to be found in the hedges 

 but one equals in neatness and in beauty that of 

 the Chaffinch. The more open hedgerows 

 places where the growth is old, and there are 

 plenty of stumps and stunted bushes, the result of 

 many years' regular trimming with the bill-hook 

 are the favourite spots. Here a crotch is selected, 

 often the three-pronged fork of an old thorn or 

 hazel, or the mossy stump of a blackthorn or a 

 crab. Day by day for a fortnight you may visit 

 this wondrous home, and watch it slowly grow in 



