134 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



IN8E880RE& FRINGILLIDJ2. 



CONIROSTRES. 



THE CHAFFINCH. 



FRINGILLA C(ELEBS. 



Bricean-beatha. 



THE pert and familiar Chaffinch is widely distributed throughout 

 Scotland. It is found in several localities in the Outer Hebrides, 

 especially in the sheltered districts of Harris and Lewis; there are 

 none on the treeless islands. It need not, however, excite sur- 

 prise should it yet be found frequenting these barren wastes, as it 

 appears to be even a hardier bird than the common sparrow, whose 

 place it frequently takes in out of-the way bird haunts. I have 

 found it in considerable numbers near lonely farm-steadings in 

 the western moors, and have noticed it as the commonest bird in 

 upland parishes, where other birds of its size do not make a long 

 stay. Mr Elwes informs me that on one occasion he observed a 

 female Chaffinch on the summit of Ben a Chaolais, in the island 

 of Jura, at an elevation of 2500 feet. The bird seemed quite at 

 home, and complained of the intrusion on its haunts a mass of 

 splintered rocks with the same quick note that characterizes its 

 impatience when disturbed in an orchard. 



In its style of nest-building, this bird varies the structure ac- 

 cording to the locality which it happens to frequent. In rural 

 places, away from the dust and smoke prevailing near cities and 

 large towns, the nest is a perfect model in its way for neatness 

 and compactness of form; but in less favourable situations, where 

 the building materials are not so fresh, it is slovenly and untidy. 

 A series of nests before me gives ample proof of this, some being 

 composed entirely of moss closely interwoven; others of lichens 

 laced all over with spiders' webs; whilst those obtained in the out- 

 skirts of Glasgow are built of dirty straws, pieces of paper, and 

 bits of blackened moss intermixed, forming as a whole such a 

 cradle as a country shilfa might feel ashamed of. I once took one 

 from a smoke begrimed hedge within the city boundaries which 

 had, among other odd things adhering to it, three or four postage 

 stamps exhibiting various effigies that a juvenile collector would 

 have prized. 



