chaffinch:. 
59 
nest was annually placed upon a branch overhanging a walk, 
so low that the whole was often struck by the heads of 
passengers. 
When built in wall fruit trees, the followed method is pur¬ 
sued:—A quantity of materials is deposited between the branch 
and the wall, the end of which is laid upon a branch, and 
this serves for a foundation. Sometimes it is placed amongst 
the spurs, and at other times it is simply shaded by a few 
leaves, and when finished, the lining only intervenes between 
the sitting bird and the wall: a few days are occupied in 
building the nest, then four or five eggs are deposited, one 
each day. The female, like most birds, sits eleven or twelve 
days, and in as many more the young are fledged. When 
engaged in constructing their nest, especially when it is in 
a wood, both birds, by their cries and gestures, seek to entice 
an intruder from the neighbourhood, by flitting about his 
path, and after he has removed to a distance, they again return 
to the place. This same species of guile is practised by the 
male while his mate is sitting, The young follow their parents 
for some days, and are very garrulous for food. It is during 
the period when occupied in supplying the wants of his family, 
that the active habits of the bird are displayed to the greatest 
advantage, and all his bodily energies are called into play/ 
With reference to the structure of the nidification of our 
present subject, Mr. Hewitson well observes upon its extreme 
elegance and beauty. He says, ‘Few can have passed through 
life so unobservant as not to have seen, and in seeing to have 
admired the nest of the Chaffinch. Ho one whose heart is 
touched by the beauties of nature, can have examined this 
exquisite structure without uttering some exclamation of wonder 
and delight, and of comparing it, like the poet, with all that 
is most admirable in art and of man’s invention. 
Amongst the tiny architects of the feathered race, there 
are few that can compete with the Chaffinch. Its nest is 
not only perfect in its inward arrangements, but is tastefully 
ornamented on the outside as well, with materials such as 
nature can alone employ. In its outward decoration some 
individuals employ much more taste than others, but all seem 
to think it indispensable to deck the green walls of their 
dwellings with gems of white; and when, in the neighbourhood 
of a town, the beautiful white lichens which are used for that 
purpose are obscured and blackened by the smoke of our 
chimneys, they have recourse to something else.’ 
