546 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



and a luxuriant and untrimmed hedgerow is always prolific in 

 Chaffinch nests. 



Within the forked branches the bird constructs its nest, and 

 does so in rather a singular manner. The chief material is wool, 

 which is matted together so as to form a kind of loose felt, and 

 with this felt are woven delicate mosses, spider-webs, cottony 

 down, and lichens. The last-mentioned materials are stuck most 

 ingeniously upon the outside of the nest, and have the effect of 

 making it look exactly like a natural excrescence from the tree 

 in which it is placed. 



This pretty nest is generally deep in proportion to its width, 

 and is lined with hairs, arranged in a most methodical manner, so 

 as to form a cup for the eggs. The hair of the cow is much used 

 by the Chaffinch, which may be seen collecting its stock of hairs 

 from the fields wherein cows are pastured ; not plucking them di- 

 rectly from the body of the animal, but searching for them in the 

 crevices of the trees and posts against which the cattle are accus- 

 tomed to rub themselves. Mostly, the bird can only procure 

 single hairs; but when it is fortunate enough to find a tuft^or 

 bunch of hairs, it pulls them out, and works them^ separately into 

 the nest, so as to insure the needful uniformity. The hair of the 

 horse is largely used by the Chaffinch, as is the fur of several 

 other animals ; but in the generality of nests the hairs of the cow 

 predominate. 



The texture of the nest is very strong, and, owing to the nature 

 of the materials, is very elastic, returning to its original shape even 

 after severe pressure. Boys seldom take the eggs of the Chaffinch, 

 because they are so plentiful; but they are too apt to take the 

 nest itself, knowing that it makes a safe and convenient basket 

 for the eggs of rarer birds, and forgetting that they cause much 

 sorrow to the poor birds that have spent so much .trouble in pre- 

 paring their home. 



As I have already mentioned, there is some resemblance be- 

 tween the nest of the chaffinch and that of the Goldfinch {Frin- 

 gilla carduelis). 



In point of beauty neither yields to the other, for the materials 

 are much the same, and the mode of structure is nearly identical. 

 The nest of the Goldfinch, however, is shallower than that of the 

 chaffinch, and the lichens and moss of which it is partly made are 

 not stuck on the outside, but are woven so deeply into the walls 

 that the whole surface is quite smooth. 



