ALONG THE LANES AND HEDGEROWS. 61 



beauty and in finish with each daily scrutiny. 

 You may with pleasure and amazement observe 

 each stage in this beautiful nest, from the first 

 few scraps of moss and lichen, until the deep, 

 warm cradle is complete. The outside is made 

 largely of moss, with a little dry grass and a few 

 fine rootlets intermixed, and the inside is thickly 

 lined with hair, feathers, and vegetable down. 

 The great beauty of the Chaffinch's nest consists 

 in the bits of lichen, cobwebs, and scraps of paper 

 that are garnished all over the outside, the parent 

 birds being careful to select such materials for 

 their purpose as harmonise most closely in colour 

 with the branch on which it rests. The four or 

 five eggs are pale olive or bluish green in ground 

 colour, spotted and occasionally streaked with 

 purplish brown. Many of the spots are round, 

 and darkest in the centre. The parent Chaffinches, 

 especially the female, become exceedingly noisy 

 when their tiny home is approached, and with 

 incessant cries of pink, hop from spray to spray, 

 and often betray its whereabouts by their solici- 

 tude for its safety. Insects and their larvae in 

 summer, and seeds of many kinds, including grain, 

 in spring, autumn, and winter, form the food of 

 the Chaffinch. 



Two other little birds, both cunning builders 

 of charming nests, make the hedges and lanes 

 their haunts during spring and summer. First of 

 these is the LESSER REDPOLE (F. rufescens), and North of 

 of the two it is decidedly the rarer, especially in ^mmer er 

 southern districts. Through the autumn andu r th r . m 

 winter the Lesser Redpole is gregarious, just like 

 its close ally the Linnet ; but at the approach of 



