Some British 
Finches. 
(113) THE BIRD WORLD. 
He will also breed with the Canary 
in confinement, the young of the twain 
being called Mules, and the Canary- 
Goldfinch Mule is a really splendid 
cage bird, and an excellent singer, 
although the cross-breeding is perhaps 
rather difficult for an amateur hand, 
and anyone anticipating breeding Mules 
should first get a lesson from an old 
hand. I would here point out that, like 
the Bullfinch, there is a Siberian Gold¬ 
finch, and, like that former bird, he is 
a bigger and stronger bird than our 
native, or residential Finch. 
The Learning of Tricks . 
Some Goldfinch keepers teach their 
birds, to my mind, the very barbarous 
trick of drawing their own water and 
pulling their own seed. The trick is 
certainly an interesting one, but in order 
to make the bird accomplish the trick 
it has to be practically starved, which 
is torture to it, and, though bird fan¬ 
ciers argue it is not torture after the bird 
has learned it, which is no doubt true, 
still, to be confined behind cage bais 
is, in my opinion, quite enough without 
having to work for its living, and we 
must, I am sure, all admit that to draw 
its own water and pull its own seed is 
work, though perhaps pleasure to its 
owner. I understand, however, that the 
custom is dying out, though still prac¬ 
tised to some extent on the Continent. 
The bird is sometimes caught in its 
wild state by means of a hen decoy. 
This decoy is placed in the bottom half 
of a partitioned cage, the upper half 
having a spring door on top; the cage is 
placed in a prominent position with this 
flap or spring door opened, and when 
“ Goldie ” comes along he flits over to 
the cage in answer to the hen “ Goldie’s ” 
call, flies in, the spring door shuts down, 
and someone is the owner of a fine cock 
“ Goldie.” This is only one of the 
many devices of bird-catching, and this 
mode is also practised at times with the 
Bullfinch. We now come to the:— 
Chaffinch (Fr in gill a C celebs). 
This bird has many local names, such 
as Shilfa, Spink, Twink Shilta, Chaffy, 
Shelly, Spinx, Beech Finch, Boldie, 
Wet Bird, Buck Finch, Dung Finch, etc. 
One writer asserts in regard to the 
Chaffinch that if the country were to lose 
the Chaffinch it would lose its charm, 
and another writer states, and 1 agree 
with him, that if the country lost the 
Chaffinch it would be nothing short of 
a national calamity. When in the 
country his “ pink ” “ pink ” greets us at 
almost every turn. Here we see him 
tripping down the lane in front of us, 
while sometimes we see a flash of bright 
colouring—red, green, and white— 
before us, and the “ Shilfa ” lands in 
that small hedge in front, raps out his 
“ pink ” “ pink,” sees us, and with 
another flash is off again. He is indeed 
a charm to the country, and worthy of 
his title as being one of Britain’s most 
beautiful birds. He is a very common 
Finch, and, being in no way shy, is 
easily approached. 
His size is about 6 in., has a black 
forehead, with nape and crown greyish- 
blue; back, chestnut-coloured, with a 
green sheen, the scapulars being simi¬ 
larly coloured; deep red breast, verging 
into white on the belly or underparts. 
The wings are black, with two white 
prominent bands running across them, 
and the tail is black also. The hen is 
not so gaudily coloured as her mate, 
being more sober in colour, this being 
ashy-grey and yellow. 
(To be continued .) 
Mr. Chaffinch 
whose “Pink,” “Pink,” “Pink,” 
enlivens many a country walk. 
