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THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
Gilbert White was one of the first to remark on the 
separation of the sexes of this species in winter in 
England, and communicated it to Pennant, who noted it 
in his " Zoology." " For many years past I have observed 
that towards Christmas vast flocks of chaffinches have 
appeared in the fields ; many more I used to think than 
could be hatched in any one neighbourhood. But when I 
came to observe them more narrowly, I was amazed to 
find that they seemed to me to be almost all hens. I 
communicated m.y suspicions to some intelligent neigh- 
bours, who after taking pains about the matter declared 
that they also thought them all mostly females ; at least 
fifty to one." ^ 
Tennyson surely refers to this bird when he writes in 
the " Idylls of the King " : 
" There is a little helpless innocent bird 
That has but one plain passage of few notes, 
Will sing the simple passage o'er and o'er 
For all one April morning, till the ear 
Wearies to hear it." 
If the following is a piece of genuine folk-lore, perhaps 
it is worth preserving : — " It was told me at Hurstbourne 
that when the yellowhammer sings 'A little bit of bread 
and no cheese,' the chaffinch replies, * I haven't had a bit 
of bread and cheese this five year.' " (Kelsall.) 
Miss Yonge records that the late Mr. Thomas 
Chamberlayne, of Cranbury, made the chaffinches so tame 
that they took grain from his pockets. 2 
* Letter xiii. to Pennant. Selborne. January 22nd, 1768. 
^ ''John Keble's Parishes." 
