THE GREEN- FINCH. 43 



is olive green, rather warm and bright in the tint, passing 

 into yellowish at the rump, and relieved by grey on the 

 margins of some of the feathers. The wing-coverts and 

 secondaries are grey, with the centres darker ; the primaries 

 the same as the centres of these, but with bright yellow on 

 their outer webs : tail-feathers the same colour, the outer 

 ones margined with bright yellow, the others with grey ; 

 the top of the head rather browner green than the back ; 

 the breast greyish yellow, and the vent and under tail-coverts 

 the same. The female has the green and yellow less bright, 

 and is altogether of a browner tint than the male. 



In summer, the green finches frequent the hedges, bushes, 

 and copses, in the neighbourhood of cultivated ground, and 

 are often found nestling in gardens, especially where they 

 have the shelter of ivy or of close hedges. The note of the 

 male is mild and subdued, but it can hardly be called a song r 

 though in confinement he may be taught to a certain extent ; 

 but in confinement, as in the free state, the birds are more 

 recommended to notice by the gentleness of their manners 

 than by their song. 



For resident birds, they build rather late in the season, 

 their eggs being seldom met with till June. The nest is 

 placed in a thick bush, composed of vegetable fibres, moss, 

 and wool, with a lining of hair and feathers : the eggs are 

 four or five in number, of a very pale greenish white, with 

 light reddish brown spots near the thick ends. 



As the green finches have their nesting time in the finest 

 part of the season, and their nesting places in those localities 

 where both food and building materials are found in abund- 

 ance, matters go on more smoothly with them than with 

 many other birds. They go on much more quietly than 

 their vocal neighbours, but quite as harmoniously if they 

 are wanting in melody. The pair are very attentive to the 

 young and to each other ; and when the incubation begins, 



