The chaffinch is one is the most common birds in the UK and is found commonly across most of Europe. They prefer to feed from the ground rather than feeders and often feed in flocks. They are a popular pet bird in a number of European countries.
The chaffinch was once popular as a caged song bird and large numbers of wild birds were trapped and sold. In 1882 a guide was issued by the publisher Samuel Orchart Beeton regarding the care of caged birds and included the recommendation "To parents and guardians plagued with a morose and sulky boy, my advice is, buy him a chaffinch.”
Often competitions were held with bets being placed on which caged chaffinch would repeat its song the greatest number of times. The birds were sometimes blinded with a hot needle in the belief that this encouraged them to sing. This practice is the subject of the poem The Blinded Bird by the author and poet Thomas Hardy which contrasts the cruelty involved in blinding the birds with their song.
“So zestfully canst thou sing?
And all this indignity,
With God’s consent, on thee!
Blinded ere yet a-wing
By the red-hot needle thou,
I stand and wonder how
So zestfully thou canst sing!
Resenting not such wrong,
Thy grievous pain forgot,
Eternal dark thy lot,
Groping thy whole life long;
After that stab of fire;
Enjailed in pitiless wire;
Resenting not such wrong!
Who hath charity? This bird.
Who suffereth long and is kind,
Is not provoked, though blind
And alive ensepulchred?
Who hopeth, endureth all things?
Who thinketh no evil, but sings?
Who is divine? This bird.”
2 done. 98 to go!
