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PERCHING BIRDS. 
The True Finches. 
The Chaffinches. 
Subfamily FRINGILLINAZ . 
The true finches are distinguished from the grosbeak group by their less 
powerful bills, and different cranial characters; and although their bills are 
variously modified to meet their manner of life, on the whole they possess many 
common characteristics. They are found principally in temperate climates. 
Chaffinches possess a rather long and slender bill, conical in shape ; 
and the wings are furnished with a first primary so small as to seem 
wanting, the rest of these feathers varying in their comparative length. The tail 
is moderately long and decidedly forked. These finches inhabit Europe generally, as 
well as Western Siberia, Persia, Turkestan, Madeira, and the Canaries and Azores, 
common The common chaffinch (Fringilla coslebs), is abundant in most parts 
Chaffinch. G f Europe, being in some districts even more plentiful than the house- 
sparrow. In the British Isles, as on the Continent, it is a general favourite, nesting 
in close proximity to dwelling-houses, and rearing its young almost under the 
windows. During the winter, chaffinches consort in large flocks, which break up 
at the close of the cold weather, when their familiar notes enliven groves and 
orchards with their melody. In early spring the chaffinch begins to pair, 
when the male birds are no longer tolerant of the society of their fellows, but 
exhibit a high degree of jealousy towards their rivals. Even in the middle of 
June we have seen cock-birds engaged in combat, although such contests usually 
precede the nesting-season. The chaffinch builds its nest in a fruit-tree or tall 
hedgerow; and we recollect one nest built on the trunk of a large tree, which 
looked as if it had been placed there by accident rather than by design, so exactly 
did its grey trimming harmonise with the colour of the bark. Mr. Gray remarks 
that the chaffinch “ varies the structure of its nest according to the locality which 
it happens to frequent. In rural places, away from the dust and smoke prevailing 
near cities and large towns, the nest is a perfect model in its way for neatness and 
compactness of form ; but in less favourable situations, where the building materials 
are not so fresh, it is slovenly and untidy. Any large series of nests gives ample 
proof of this, some being composed entirely of moss closely interwoven, others of 
lichens laced all over with spiders’ webs, while those obtained in the outskirts of 
Glasgow are built of dirty straws, pieces of paper, and bits of blackened moss 
intermixed.” Mr. Dresser describes a nest which he took in Finland as beino- of 
O 
the most artistic structure. It was placed upon a birch-tree, and neatly ornamented 
with pieces of yellow and grey lichens and small bits of birch-bark, so as to 
resemble a portion of the tree itself; and was finally most carefully lined with soft 
moss and bits of down and wool, through which some fine roots showed every here 
and there. A remarkable nest found in Denmark was decorated all over the 
outside with small pieces of newspaper. The eggs of the chaffinch are generally 
purplish grey in ground-colour, washed with green, and blotched and spotted with 
dark red; but we have seen perfectly blue, unspotted eggs, although this variety 
is rare. The chaffinch feeds during the spring and summer months principally 
upon insects, and we have watched a male chaffinch gathering aphides from off the 
