CHIFF CHAFF. 176 
and 1844, and not till the 15th. in 1847; a year in which 
the vernal migrants were very late in making their appear- 
ance. One was heard on the 8th. of September. 
In the spring these birds keep for the most part in the 
same haunt.’ They are lively, active, and restless in their 
movements, often frequenting trees of lofty growth, especially 
in situations where they are surrounded with tangled vege- 
tation. They display much anxiety for the safety of their 
young; if the latter be taken out of the nest, it is said that 
the old birds will hover about, and even come and stand 
beside and flutter around them. ‘They are easily captured, 
and soon become tame in confinement. Mr. Sweet mentions 
one which used to perch on the hand without shewing the 
least symptom of fear, and also would fly up to the ceiling, 
and bring down a fly in its beak every time. 
Their food consists of small caterpillars, aphides, small 
moths, and flies; and the latter they sometimes catch on the 
wing: the young are fed with caterpillars, flies, and other 
insects. 
The song, frequently heard overhead from the upper part 
of some tall tree, and on one occasion so early as the 5th. 
of February, is melodious and varied. ‘The ordinary bitone 
note is a mere ‘cheep, cheep, cheep, chee,’ likened by some to 
the syllables ‘chiff-chaff,’ whence the name, and a ‘chiff, cheff, 
chaff, almost a ‘vox et preterea nihil,’ but it comes from 
the tops of the trees with a ringing sound, reminding one of 
the faint chime of the distant village church bell; it is con- 
tinued even till late in September. The alarm cry Meyer 
represents by the word ‘hoo-id;’ the note is also frequently 
repeated on the wing. 
The nest, which is arched over, is skilfully constructed of 
various indiscriminate materials, according to the situation it 
is placed in, fern, moss, leaves, grasses, the bark of the birch 
tree, the shells of chrysalides, wool, and the down of flowers, 
with sometimes feathers and a few hairs for lining for the 
whole of the interior; it is arched over more than half-way, 
the other portion of the upper half being left open by the 
side; if the roofing be removed, even three or four times, the 
patient little architect will renew it. It is placed on the 
ground, generally, but not always, in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of trees, or on a hedge bank, or near a brook, or 
on the moss-clad stump of a tree, beneath the shelter of the 
trailing boughs of some bramble, furze, or other bush, or clod 
