NEST OF THE CHAFFINCH. 
437 
fibres of various plants, cotton, and the hair and bristles of the pig. 
It is generally planted in one of the forks of the top of a tree ; and so 
■well concealed, that even after the leaves have fallen it is seldom visible. 
THE CHAFFINCH. 
The goldfinch's nest, however, is considered less handsome than 
that of the chafl&nch, though constructed with so much skill. It is 
more formal, certainly, and less richly varied in its colouring, the 
bird being wholly averse to a single blade of moss or lichen pro- 
jecting, and filling the whole very neatly and smoothly with wool. 
According to Waterton, it is a paragon of perfection. Lichen is 
attached to the outside by means of the spider's slender web. 
"When I was on a plantation in Guiana," says the naturalist, "I 
saw the humming-bird making use of the spider's web in its nidifica- 
tion, and then the thought struck me that our chaffinch might 
probably make use of it too. On my return to Europe, I watched a 
chaffinch busy at her nest ; she left it, and flew to an old wall, took a 
cobweb from it, then conveyed it to her nest, and interwove it with the 
lichen on the outside of it. Four or five eggs are the usual number 
which the chaffinch's nest contains, and sometimes only three. The 
thorn, and most of the evergreen shrubs, the sprouts on the boles of 
forest trees, the woodbine, the whin, the wild rose, and occasionally 
the bramble, are this bird's favourite places of nidification." 
In those bright, fresh days which usher in the spring, the song of 
the chaffinch is heard on the air. It has a cheerful tone, as becomes 
the herald of happy hours of bloom and sunshine. Betaking him- 
self to his last year's abode, he awaits there the advent of his spouse. 
As soon as she makes her appearance, the two birds set to work on 
their nest; and their natural ingenuity being stimulated by the sweet 
impulses of love, it is frequently completed before the trees have put 
forth the full glory of their leafiness. Watch them closely, and you 
will see them fly from tree-top to tree-top ; the female carefully 
searching and investigating, her mate restless, agitated, and forgetful 
of his ordinary prudence. She has no other thought than to find a 
safe place for her nest ; he is full of love and passion, and the victim 
28 A 
