46 GRAMINI VOILE. 



numbers, if the season is severe. They soon, however, return 

 to the breeding haunts ; for with the exception of those 

 birds that sing a little on fine days nearly the winter 

 through, the chaffinch is, in all parts of the country, one of 

 our earliest songsters. The females, which move off in 

 flocks, return stealthily, and combats of gallantry sometimes 

 take place between the males in the pairing season, the 

 female, as is usual in such cases, falling to the lot of the 

 victor. 



The building of the nest is begun rather early ; but as 

 it is a more elaborate structure than the nests of many birds, 

 some time is required to complete it. The body of it is- 

 usually formed of mosses or lichens, matted together with 

 fibres of wool or hair, and lined with the latter substances. 

 (hairs especially), the whole being very neatly and compactly 

 put together, so that it requires some force to pull the nest 

 of a chaffinch to pieces. 



Much has been written on the nest of the chaffinch, with 

 regard to the materials, the mode of their union, and the 

 object which the bird has in view in constructing a nest so 

 superior in workmanship to that made by many other birds. 

 But the truth is, that birds have in themselves no purpose 

 in the building of their nests, or in anything else. They 

 merely obey the instinct of rearing a brood, in which, as to 

 foreknowledge and purpose, they are as void as a tree is in 

 bearing fruit. The structures of nests have no reference to 

 concealment from enemies, or to anything else that involves. 

 a knowledge of what may happen : they are all physiological, 

 and form part of the nature of the bird, from which it can 

 no more depart than a thorn can bear grapes or a thistle figs. 

 The winter migration of the females shows that they are 

 much affected by cold ; and all birds of which the females 

 are so, build warm nests, as, for instance, the snow-bimting ; 

 while those which are indifferent to cold, as, for instance, 



