FRINGILLA CÆLEBS.
Chaffinch.
Fringilla Calebs, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p . 818. # . ;:V
sylvia, Scop. - Ann., i. p. 217.
nobilis, Schrank, Faun. Boica, p. 176.
Calebs, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil. i. p. 163.
Passer spiza, Pall. Zoogr., tom. ii p . 17.
Struthus calebs, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 974.
T h is pretty bird is so universally distributed over the British Islands t h a t it must have been seen by every
one, and there is no person I should suppose who is not acquainted w ith its call-notes of pink, pink, or its
more lengthened and monotonous song—a strain which, wanting variety, becomes t i r in g to the ear from its
incessant repetition. It is distributed over the British Islands and the continent of Europe from east to w e s t,
and from north to south ; out of Europe, the countries of Asia Minor, Egypt, and Northern Africa are
frequented by it in equal abundance. With us, gardens, shrubberies, lane-sides, the skirts of woods, holly
trees on the open heath, the groves of aspen, oak, and birch, and the plantations of larch and fir clothing
valleys and hill-sides are alike resorted to. From Cornwall to the Orkneys, from Galway in Ireland to
Suffolk in England, the Chaffinch is a constant resident ; here, there, and everywhere does it enliven the
scene with its showy colours and sprightly actions. On the continent of Europe it is just as numerous, during
the months of summer, from the hot shores of the Mediterranean to the cool mountains of Norway and
I upland : wherever vegetation flourishes and trees grow, there it may be found. This assertion, however,
must be slightly modified as far as it relates to Norway ; for during my visit to that country I did not observe
it in the birch-regioti or among the stunted willows, its place in those situations being invariably occupied
by the Bramble Fm fc . :NningUld). Neither did I meet with it on the higher parts of thè
Dovrefield, where, wakfe Ae Bramble Finch was abundant; on the other hand, all the great pine-forests of
that romantic country were tenanted by it, its note resounding in every open glade. During my visit to
the Maltese Islands, the Chaffinch was seen in the early part of April high in the air, as if coming from some
distant land, and alighting in considerable numbers among the carouba, olive, and orange trees—these
' ■ the birds while en route from Africa to Europe.
Lm m its quarters according to the seasons ; it is a gregarious bird
islands probably being a resting-plai
In the British Islands the Chaffinch < h;<
during the months of autumn and w'uattr
driven by stress of weather to seek sfedh
yards of the farmer. The sexes are now
name of calebs, or bachelor, has been asst
forth in the Chaffinch, as in other birds, i
return to their summer
males begin to assume a
rich leaden-blue bill, a
breast: they are now in
What wonderful skill
indeed, unsurpassed ainc
an opportunity of inspecting an ex
inimitable structure 1 1 write thus
that it may awake in the minds o
Creator of all things. Much has b
and the other ends; but as this is
content myself by saying that I be! it
and kept apart from its parents, it
and that the lavishly-decorated nesi
tu to upland districts and fields under cultivation, until
,r birds in the lower lands and the straw- and rick-
ciKvrate, each »ssorting by themselves ; and hence the
species. The venial season of spring, however, calls
ire • old associations airain revive, and they once more
of their songs and other manifestations of love, the
May has put forth her garlands, they have obtained a
b blue crown, a chestnut-coloured back, and a vinous
r as a Chaffinch.0
construction of its nest ! Its architectural powers are,
. they elicited the admiration of every one who has bad
nuptial dci
abode. With a resumption
finer dress, and, by the tin«
black bar on the forehead,
their best attire, and as “ ga;
does this bird display in the
[ bin ind how often havi
ople of them! With what elevated thoughts must we all regard the
•rvidly on the architectural skill displayed by the Chaffinch, in the hope
those who have not yet acquired it a taste for the works of the Great
■n written on the subjects of instinct and reason, where the one begins
matter which would be quite out of place in the present work, I shall
* that if a voung bird of this or any other species be artificially incubated
ould at the age of maturity act precisely like them in every particular,
>f one, or the careless-built nest of another, would he constructed precisely
as in a state of nature. Instinct alone carries the bee back to its hive, directs the young Swallow to
follow its parents to Africa, and the young Chaffinch to build its nest in strict resemblance to that which its
■ d e cesso rs had erected on the branches of the apple-tree or the whitethorn. The markings of the eggs,
ich the bird can have no power of modifying, all bear the same character in the minutest degree.
It would be unfair to the Chaffinch to say that it is a destructive and troublesome bird; for it is not so,
ept in ) ituatious foreign to its nature. The gardens have eon«- to the hir.l, and the ploughed fields eu