CHAF-FINCH. 



443 



breast and belly brown } wings similar in markings 

 to the male, but not so bright. 



Dr. Latham mentions a variety with the head 

 and neck ash-colour : cheeks brownish : back 

 and scapulars the same, inclining to ash : rump 

 greenish : the under parts brown flesh-colour : the 

 lesser and greater wing-coverts white ; the middle 

 ones, quills, and tail, black ; the two outer ones 

 half way white on their outer margins. It is also 

 subject to other variations, as it is sometimes found 

 entirely white, and also with the crown of the head 

 and collar round the neck of the same colour. 



This beautiful bird is one of the commonest in 

 England, and the male is sometimes taken for its 

 song, which is rather pleasing to some, but ceases 

 in the winter. Its nest is generally composed of 

 plants and moss, lined inside with hair, feathers, 

 wool, or such like substances : it is mostly fixed 

 in some thick, low bush ; particularly in ivy or 

 apple-trees overgrown with moss and lichen, ge- 

 nerally assimilating it to the colour of the sur- 

 rounding substances. The eggs of this bird are 

 four or five in number, of a dirty white colour, 

 tinged with purple, and marked with streaks and 

 spots of a darker colour. In the summer it 

 lives chiefly on insects, with which it feeds its 

 young ; but in the winter becomes gregarious, 

 and feeds on seeds and grain. In this country 

 both sexes remain the whole year; but in Sweden 

 the males only stay, the females migrating to the 

 south, from whence they return in the spring. 

 Mr. White mentions, in his Natural History of 



v. ix. p. ii. 30 



