186 BRITISH BIRDS 



birds with regard to their singing that they are rival musicians, 

 like the shepherds in the old pastorals, that contended in song for 

 mastery : it is simply that the cock chaffinch, like the robin and 

 some other species, is a bird of a jealous and pugnacious disposition, 

 and can brook no other male chaffinch near him. Another's sing- 

 ing tells him that another male is present, and his jealousy is at 

 once excited. If the sound is at a distance, he will content himself 

 by answering song with song ; if near, he will quickly seek out the 

 singer, and drive him from his chosen ground. It is this jealous 

 temper of the chaffinch that gives it value to the bird-fanciers of a 

 base kind. 



The 7 chaffinch is first heard before the end of February. He 

 pairs early in March, and in April begins to build. The nest is 

 placed in a shrub or tree, in a cleft, or on a horizontal branch. An 

 apple, pear, or cherry tree in an orchard is a favourite site ; but 

 any tree, from an evergreen in a garden to the largest oak or elm, 

 may be selected, and the nest may be at any height from the 

 ground from half a dozen to fifty feet. It is a very beautiful 

 structure, formed outwardly of lichen, moss, and dry grass, com- 

 pactly woven together, and mixed with cobwebs ; the cup-shaped 

 inside is lined with hair, vegetable down, and feathers. In most 

 cases the outer portion of the nest is composed of materials that 

 give it a close resemblance to the tree it is built on. Thus, on an 

 oak or apple tree overgrown with grey lichen, or on a silver birch, 

 the framework is chiefly composed of lichen ; but in deep green 

 bushes evergreen moss is used. The nest is built by the female, 

 but the male assists in collecting and bringing materials. A fort- 

 night, or longer, is taken to complete this elaborate nest ; but from 

 the beginning, and even before the nest is begun, the birds exhibit 

 the greatest excitement and distress if the chosen tree is approached, 

 flying round and flitting from branch to branch, incessantly utter- 

 ing their well-known alarm-notes, usually spelt pirik-pvrik or spirik- 

 spink, a clear, penetrating sound, slightly metallic in character; 

 also another sound, a lower and somewhat harsh note of anxiety. 



The eggs are four or five in number, of a pale bluish green, 

 spotted and blotched with dull purplish brown. The young are fed 

 on caterpillars and small insects. The adults, too, subsist chiefly 

 on insects in summer, seeking for them on the ground, and some- 

 times capturing them in the air, like the flycatcher. 



In autumn the chaffinches congregate in flocks, and at this 

 season the separation of the sexes, about which so much has been 



