176 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



nest, which is generally made of greyish moss and is 

 comfortably lined with wool and hair, seems, on 

 account of the neatness of its exterior, to have con- 

 siderable attraction for artists, who often succeed in 

 making very exact and pretty pictures of the nest, 

 but are not always equally particular as to the eggs 

 they put into it, for I have often seen the eggs of the 

 Hedgesparrow or Redstart put into the nest of the 

 Chaffinch I suppose because they afford a brighter 

 bit of colour. 



In plumage the male bird is bright and gay- 

 coloured, and may well be spoken of as " as gay as a 

 Chaffinch," on this account, as well as on account of 

 his lively manner and merry song. The beak is 

 bluish red, with a tinge of purplish red on the under 

 surface of the under mandible ; irides hazel ; on the 

 forehead, immediately over the base of the upper 

 mandible, is a black patch ; the top of the head, nape 

 and sides of the neck bluish grey ; back and scapu- 

 lars reddish brown, or rather perhaps bay; rump 

 and tail-coverts green, with a tinge of olive ; lesser 

 wing-coverts white, with a small spot of black on 

 the base of each feather, which is scarcely seen; 

 greater wing-coverts black, tipped with yellow and 

 yellowish white ; primary and secondary quills 

 dusky, slightly edged with greenish yellow, and some 

 of them are white at the base; tertials nearly 

 black, margined with rusty and dull yellowish white ; 

 tail dusky, except the two centre feathers, which are 



