36 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
a band across the wing; lower back and rump olive-green ; 
centre tail-feathers ashy grey, the remainder black with a large 
wedge-shaped mark of white on the last feather but one, this 
white mark still more extended on the outer leather ; crown 
and hind neck slaty blue; forehead black; under surface 
pale vinous red; lower abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts 
white ; bill leaden blue ; feet brown ; iris hazel. 1 otal length, 
6 inches ; culmen, C45 ; wing, 3'5 > tail, 2 ’5 > tarsus, C65. 
Adult Female.— Different from the male. Above ashy brown, 
washed with olive-yellow ; under surface of body pale ashy 
brown, lighter on the throat, and tinged with pink on the 
throat and breast. Total length, 6'5 inches ; culmen o 5 ; wing, 
3'4 ; tail, 2 '6 ; tarsus, 0-65. 
Young— Like the adult female, but more dingy ; rump and 
upper tail-coverts olive-brown. 
Range in Great Britain. — Breeding nearly everywhere, but a 
winter visitor only to the Shetlands. A common winter migrant 
on all our eastern shores. 
Rano-e outside the British Islands.— Generally distributed through- 
out Europe, up to the line of the Arctic Circle, and extending to 
62° N. lat. in the Ural Mountains. Its western breeding range 
extends to about long. 70°. 
Hahits.— The Chaffinch is a bird familiar to most people, and 
is to be found in great abundance in most parts of the British 
Islands particularly in winter, when it associates with Sparrows 
and Greenfinches in the stubbles and in the farmyards. Its 
familiar note, “pink, pink,” is heard everywhere in the spring, 
and in some of our southern counties the Chaffinch is an ex- 
tremely abundant species. It builds one of the most beautiful 
nests of any British bird, and it is so well concealed by protec- 
tive resemblance to its surroundings, that m the majority of 
cases it would pass undiscovered but for the anxious notes of 
the parent bird which lead to its discovery. Like most Finches, 
the food consists of grain in winter, but in summer the birds 
feed largely on insects. 
Neat— A pretty cup-shaped structure, placed in a bush or 
branch of a tree, composed chiefly of moss with a few rootlets 
and twigs, and clothed externally with cobwebs and lichens, so 
