176 TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



Their plumage is resplendent with the most brilliant colours, resembling 

 the flowers around which they sport (compare with parrots), and accord- 

 ingly these butterflies of the bird- world rightly deserve the title of " living 

 gems." (Compare the humming-bird with a butterfly.) 



ORDER VI.: SONG-BIRDS (OSCINES). 



Legs unfeathered, invariably covered with fairly large horny plates, 

 which frequently unite to form a so-called " boot." Foot with three 

 anterior and one posterior toes ; the two outer toes united at the base of 

 the first phalanx (adapted for hopping). Lower larynx (see p. 147) highly 

 developed, the majority of the birds in this order being in consequence 

 capable of giving utterance to tuneful song. Young helpless. 



Family 1 : Finches (Fringillidae). 



The Chaffinch (Fringilla Calebs). 



(Length 6 inches.) 



With the return of warm sunshine after a long winter, the melodious 

 notes of the chaffinch are among the first to be heard in garden, grove, 

 or wood. (It must be noted that the tune of the chaffinch is very 

 variable.) The male is a very handsome bird. The forehead is black, 

 the back of the neck slaty blue, the back brown, and the rump of 

 greenish colour ; the breast is of a rich red, and the wings are black 

 with a white and a yellow transverse band. In the female the colours 

 are duller, which is of advantage to the bird, for while sitting on the 

 nest its inconspicuous colouring approximates it to that of its surround- 

 ings, so that it is easily overlooked by its enemies. (Similar differences 

 in the coloration of the plumage occur in a large number of song-birds. 

 Give examples.) The nest is spherical, and displays marvellous skill in its 

 structure. It is suspended in the fork of a tree close to the trunk, and 

 consists of a feltwork of moss and fine stalks of grass. With the aid of 

 spiders' webs and other filaments, the outer wall is covered with lichens 

 peculiar to the tree in which the nest is placed. In this way the little 

 cradle assumes a striking resemblance to a weathered, lichen-covered 

 tree-stump. Inside it is lined with a soft, warm padding of feathers, 

 hair, and wool. The eggs are bluish-green, dotted over with black 

 and brown spots, and are not easily distinguished from a distance 

 (protective colouring). The plumage of the young — nestling plumage — 

 is inconspicuous. Their food, like that of the old birds during the 

 breeding season, consists of insects. Later, however, they feed prin- 



