304 INSESSORES. FRINGILLA. Chaffinch. 



males, which is known to take place in Sweden and other 

 northern countries. The fact, however, is otherwise, as the 

 experience of a series of years has evinced that these birds, 

 in a general point of view, obey the same natural law in the 

 north of England. In Northumberland and Scotland, this 

 separation takes place about the month of November, and 

 from that period till the return of spring, few females are to 

 be seen, and those few always in distinct societies. — The 

 males remain, and are met with, during the winter, in im- 

 mense flocks, feeding with other granivorous birds in the 

 stubble lands, as long as the weather continues mild, and the 

 ground free from snow ; and resorting, upon the approach of 

 storm, to farm-yards, and other places of refuge and supply. 

 This separation of the sexes, I am induced to believe, takes 

 place in many other species, with respect to their migratory 

 movements, as I have before remarked in the account of the 

 Snow-Bunting. This appears also to be the case with the 

 Woodcock, having observed that the first flight of these birds 

 (which seldom remains longer than for a few days to recruit, 

 and then passes southward), consists chiefly of females ; 

 whilst, on the contrary, the subsequent and latest flights 

 (which continue with us), are principally composed of males. 

 It has been noticed by several authors, that the arrival of the 

 males, in a number of our summer visitants, precedes that of 

 the females by many days ; a fact from which we might in- 

 fer that in such species a similar separation exists between the 

 sexes during their equatorial migration. 



As these birds are very early breeders, the male Chaffinch 

 utters his love-notes almost as soon as the Thrush or Gold- 

 crested Regulus. — They build in various situations upon the 

 trees and bushes, sometimes amidst the ivy encircling their 

 trunks, at other times in the forks of smaller branches, and 

 very frequently in old apple-trees, overgrown with moss and 

 Nest, &c. lichens. — The nest exhibits great symmetry and beauty, and 

 is formed of different mosses and lichens, closely interwoven 

 with wool, and warmly lined with feathers and hair ; in its 



