102 BRITISH BIRDS. 



in the moulting-seasoiij and is usually not regained until the following 

 spring. Some of the birds will^ however^ sing after recovery from the 

 moultj and may be heard at intervals throughout the autumn. In addition 

 to the call- and alarm-note of pink, pink, pink, common to both sexes, there 

 is another note which is peculiar to the male, and which is only uttered 

 in the pairing- and breeding-seasons. It is something like the call-note 

 of the Willow-Wren, only much louder, and not at all plaintive. It may 

 be expressed as a clear whit. The call-note as the bird flies in small 

 parties is a sip, sip, sip. In the Engadine in the autumn I noticed that 

 the Chaffinches at rest in the pine trees occasionally uttered a sound like 

 the word kurrt. 



In March the Chaffinch seeks the hedgerows and the open places ; but 

 at nightfall it always retires to the shrubberies and evergreens to roost; 

 and if the weather be cold and cloudy, it remains in the shelter of 

 such places. Although the bird loves the warm shelter of evergreens, 

 it seldom builds its nest in them, but seeks the branches of deciduous 

 trees. The site for the nest is varied. It is often in the forked branches 

 of a hawthorn, only a few feet from the ground, or on the lichen- and 

 moss-covered branches of the birch and ash trees, far up in the tower- 

 ing branches of the oak, the alder, and the poplar, and on the lowly 

 branches of the holly, more rarely in the yew, and frequently in the 

 gorse shrubs. A favourite situation is in the fruit-trees in the garden 

 and orchard. Dixon mentions a curious site for the nest of this bird : — 

 " On the banks of the river Derwent, amongst the frowning hills of the 

 High Peak, I once found a Chaffinch's nest built under a tuft of grass 

 growing on the side of a wall bordering the river. The materials of 

 the nest were so closely woven with the grass that it required no other 

 support ; indeed other support was wanting, and the nest hung suspended 

 over the roaring stream. It contained five eggs, and the female was 

 sitting quietly upon them." My friend Mr. C. Doncaster also con- 

 tributes the following note on a remarkable Chaffinch's nest, also in the 

 Peak district : — " On an old thorn tree by the river Derwent, near Baslow, 

 the stem of which was covered with ivy, I saw a long strip of moss, two 

 feet long and four inches wide, attached to the ivy. I did not suspect 

 that it was a nest; but touching it with my stick, a Chaffinch flew 

 off' from a nest with four eggs, about ten feet from the ground. On 

 looking closely I was astonished to find that this two feet of moss was 

 attached to and hanging from the nest, and that it was all manufactured 

 by the bird, containing also lichen and wool, and the whole was attached 

 to the ivy by horsehair. There was no moss on the tree growing 

 naturally, and it was evidently a device for the concealment of the nest. The 

 amount of material woven together in the part that hung down would be 

 several times more than that used in the nest itself." 



