22 Birds I Have Kept. 



day or two before we expected them to be hatched, a stray- 

 cat got into the house, and knocked down the cage, killing 

 the two birds, and destroying the eggs. 



Since then I have possessed other Chafflnohes, both male 

 and female, but have never succeeded in getting them to pair, 

 either among themselves or with Canaries or other birds; so 

 that I the more regret the accident that marred what appeared 

 to be success when just at the culminating point. 



Although it has long been an immense favourite with fanciers 

 on the continent, it is only of late years that the Chaffinch, 

 Fringilla oaelehs of Linnaeus, le Pinson of the Prench, and der 

 Buchfink of the Grermans, has grown into favour and been 

 caged in England; and yet it is a very beautiful bird, hardy, 

 and tameable, and by no means a despicable songster. 



The male Chaffinch is six inches and three quarters in length, 

 of which the tail measures two and a half. The forehead is 

 black, the top of the head and nape of the neck greyish blue, 

 deep blue in very old males; the breast is a bright reddish 

 brown, and the wing coverts are white ; the tail is bluish black, 

 of a very dark shade, and the bird has the power of erecting 

 the head feathers into a crest. The beak is conical, pointed, 

 and in winter white; while in summer it changes to a deep 

 blue. The eye is chesnut brown, and the feet and legs dusky. 



The female is rather smaller than her mate; her head, neck, 

 and the upper part of her body are greyish brown, and all 

 the under parts dusky white, with a faint reddish tinge on 

 the breast. The beak, in spring, is greyish brown, and whitish 

 grey in winter. 



The Chaffinch is naturally a frequenter of woods and orchards, 

 and is partially, at least in northern countries, a bird of 

 passage ; though the females are of a more unsettled disposition 

 in this respect than the males, whom they leave behind them 

 at the end of autumn, whilst they themselves emigrate en masse. 

 It is owing to this disposition of the sexes to separate as soon 

 as the breeding season is over, that the name Fringilla ccelehs ■ 



