Birds. 571 



liar yet not an intrusive disposition, he builds in the trees around the dwellings of men, 

 and in the hedge-rows of cultivated fields, no less than in lonely woods and copses ; 

 when wintry storms and the progress of the plough have cleared the stubbles of his 

 food, he hies with all his fellovvs to the well-stocked stack-yard, where the pinchings of 

 hunger are never felt. The writings of Gilbert White, many years ago induced me 

 to look out for the migration of the females of this species, but his remarks are inap- 

 plicable to East Lothian. During the absence of the swallow from our cold clime, the 

 chaffinch is the faithful guardian of all the little birds which haunt the onstead. No 

 sooner is the prowling hawk perceived, than the alarm-note is sounded, the sparrows 

 decamp to the hedge or thickest bushes, followed by yellow buntings and green lin- 

 nets, whilst the chaffinches fly up to the topmost sprays of the tallest trees, and give 

 vent to their fears in loud choral bursts of sound ; when the plunderer make his fell 

 stoop, they dash downwards to places of greater security ; but no sooner is he past, 

 than they again mount to the signal-tree, The roaming habits of the swallow give 

 him a decided advantage over the chaffinch ; and though the numbers of the latter are 

 much reduced, owing to the number of colonists which have departed for the woods, 

 still those which remain are true to their post and duties. Summer heats and love- 

 songs have exerted no injurious influence upon their call-notes, but with so few voices 

 the chief interest is gone ; some hundreds of voices ringing out loud and clear in a 

 calm winter day, impart a sense of life and animation to the quiet valley, when the 

 woodland songsters are silent, and more pleasing by far than the notes of the pheasant 

 or the partridge, the cawings of the carrion crow or the rook, or even the wild melan- 

 choly whistle of the golden plover. When the frightened thrush chatters at the stran- 

 ger approaching too near her nest, or the wren, which tells of perils in the hedge, gives 

 notice of prowling cat or weasel, chaffinches flock from all quarters to mob the intru- 

 der; and when the grove is up in arms against the luckless owl or vagrant cuckoo, — 

 there are louder voices amongst the rabble crowd, but none so insolent in their bear- 

 ing as the gay chaffinch, than whom there is no bird more watchful of his own safety, 

 especially when feeding in large flocks, for they fly off at the least noise. Whilst not- 

 ing that onsteads are their head quarters in midwinter and early spring, until the oats 

 are sown, let it be also understood, that many frequent the plantations bordering on 

 public roads, as well as such neighbouring woods as are well sheltered. The wooded 

 banks of the Whittingham water are a chosen resort, the glen through which it flows 

 is sheltered from almost every wind ; soon after the commencement of the year, the 

 noontide sun rises sufficiently high in the heavens to impart a genial warmth to its 

 northern bank : there the renovated forms of the pilewort, the primrose and the violet 

 rise to view, and birds are heard to stir the woods in song, much sooner than in any 

 other locality : but long before the appearance of these wild flowers, and even before 

 the " fair maids of February," the merry roundelays of the chaffinch are heard during 

 soft and sunny noons about the end of January. He is the first of all our native birds 

 in these parts to announce the coming of spring with all her varied charms, and wel- 

 come, doubly welcome, is his prophetic song after the long dreary months of winter, 

 for well I know that the gentle song thrush will soon return from England, and the 

 skylark from the sea coast, that the vast congregations of the ringdove will gradually 

 disperse, that our song-birds will one by one resume their vernal notes, and the whole 

 laud will re-echo with song. Destitute though the song of the leader of the chorus 

 may be of any pretension to melody, still in its own homely style it breathes a portion 

 of that spirit of pure cheerfulness which marks the skylark's song, and vhich probably 



