CHAFFINCH. Fringilla ea-lebs. 



GOLDFINCH. Fringilla cardutlit. 



The specific title of Ccelebs, which is given to the Chaffinch, signifies a bachelor, and 

 refers to the annual separation of the sexes, which takes place in the autumn, the females 

 departing to some other region, and the males congregating in vast multitudes, consoling 

 themselves as they best can by the pleasures of society for the absence of the gentler 

 portion of the community. Very large flocks of these birds appear towards the end of 

 autumn, and seem at first to be wholly composed of females. It is, however, more than 

 probable that they consist of the females together with their young families of both sexes, 

 and that the immature males have not as yet assumed their perfect plumage. The flocks 

 are generally seen about hedgerows and stubble-fields ; and if the weather should be very 

 severe, they adjourn to the vicinity of human habitations, haunting the gardens and farm- 

 yards, and often rivalling the sparrows in their boldness of demeanour. 



The note of this bird is a merry kind of whistle, and the call-note is very musical and 

 ringing, somewhat resembling the word " pinck," which has therefore been often applied to 

 the bird as its provincial name. 



The nest of the Chaffinch is one of the prettiest and neatest among the British nests. 

 It is deeply cup-shaped, and the materials of which it is composed are moss, wool, hair, 

 and lichens, the latter substances being always stuck profusely over the surface, so as to 

 give it a resemblance to the bough on which it has been built. The nest is almost 

 invariably made in the upright fork of a branch, just at its junction with the main stem 

 or bough from which it sprang, and is so beautifully worked into harmony with the bark 

 of the particular tree on which it is placed, that it escapes the eye of any but a practised 

 observer. Great pains are taken by the female in making her nest, and the structure 

 occupies her about three weeks. The eggs are from four to five in number, and their 

 2. ii ii 



