196 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
song. At that moment the birds had descended to within a foot 
or so of the ground, and were so close together that they seemed 
almost as one. ‘They did not separate until, after swerving up- 
ward, they had again descended and actually entered a thick 
pink-may bush. Throughout the incident they were never more 
than twenty yards distant from me. 
On April 19th, near New Eltham (Kent), a male and female 
Chaffinch were uttering their call-note. nearly overhead in an 
oak. They quitted the tree at the same time and swooped close 
together, passing within two yards of my head, and swerved up 
again into another tree, They were squeaking their call all the 
time, and during the flight, but at a moment when the birds were 
behind me one of them uttered a brief repetition of a full low 
note, precisely like the low gurgling rattle which was uttered on 
a similar occasion by the above-mentioned Chaffinch at Stroud. 
On April 20th, at a spot a quarter of a mile from the site of 
what occurred on the 19th (above described), two Chaffinches 
were calling in an elm tree. The female was shivering her wings 
and repeating the love-call very rapidly. A few yards distant 
from her a male was hopping from twig to twig, exclaiming in 
the same manner. Both birds swooped, and during the flight 
the low rattling cry was uttered exactly as it was yesterday. The 
low rattle is not always heard. 
On May 11th two Chaffinches swooped downwards together 
when passing from tree to tree, and during some portion of the 
descent they were very close together, breast to breast. They 
were all the time uttering the ‘“chirri” very rapidly. One was 
certainly a female, and the other seemed to be a male. The 
foliage interfered with the view. 
On May 12th a pair of Chaffinches descended together from 
the top of an oak, swerved up again nearly to the full height of 
the tree (forty feet) and descended as before, uttering the call- 
note all the while. 
I have sometimes seen Chaffinches treading in a tree. The 
male then alights several times in succession on the female, 
meanwhile uttering the “chirri”; and at the last attempt, when 
about to quit the female, he utters the low full rattling note 
above mentioned, and immediately quits her and makes no 
further attempt for some time. It appears therefore that this full 
