CHAFFINCH 
115 
a good deal duller m plumage than the cock 
(though the general likeness is obvious), and is also 
a little smaller in size. The sharp, familiar note, 
so often to be heard in our orchards and gardens, 
has given the Chaffinch its two most common local 
names, while it has earned the title of " Wetbird " 
from its uttering it with special vigour and fre- 
quency when it is uneasily aware of approaching 
rain. The true song begins to be heard towards 
the end of February ; it consists of a rapid run of 
about a dozen notes, with a strong twirling change 
and fall on the last two, and is always easily 
recognisable, in spite of varying a good deal in 
different districts, owing to the partial imitation of 
the notes of some other bird which is particularly 
numerous in the neighbourhood. The Chaffinch 
begins to build from the early part of April, and 
is not at all particular in the choice of a site ; 
almost any situation in a hedge, tree, bush, ever- 
green shrub, bramble-patch, or mantle of ivy will 
suit. The nest is an extremely smooth and neat 
one, built of green moss mingled with grey down, 
wool, and cobwebs, lined with hair and feathers, 
and often thickly spangled outside with grey tree- 
lichens. When, as is often the case, the nest is 
built in the lichened fork of an apple or some 
similar tree, this covering of lichens is naturally a 
great help to concealment. As in the similar cases 
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