Abstract: To explore whether Grey-capped Greenfinch (Chloris sinica)prefer to nest in certain tree species and the potential reasons for the preference, we examined the nest-site selection of Grey-capped Greenfinch in the campus of Longdong University from April to August, 2017-2019. The results showed that: (1) A total of 17 tree species were used by Grey-capped Greenfinch for nesting, including Juniperus chinensis, J. formosana, Platycladus orientalis and Cerasus serrulata.Among those species, J. chinensis (χ²=13.6, df=1, P=0.000) andJ. formosana (χ²=9.8, df=1,P=0.002) were the main species chosen by the birds through analysis of 180 nestsites. (2) Some parameters of the preferred tree species, including diameter of nest tree canopy (DNTC), distance from the nest to canopy edge (DEC), distance from the nest tree to the nearest tree (DT), were significantly smaller than those of other species. Other parameters of the preferred tree species, including height of the nest tree canopy (HNTC), distance from the nest to the bottom edge of canopy (DBC), distance from the nest tree to the nearest meadow (DM), number of available trees (NT), concealment degree (CC), were significantly greater than those of the other tree species (T_or MannWhiteny U _test, all P<0.05). (3) A factorial analysis of the eight nest-site parameters with significant differences (DNTC, DEC, DT, HNTC, DBC, DM, NT and CC) indicated that environmental concealment, nest location concealment, and nest location inaccessibility were the main factors driving the preference of Grey-capped Greenfinches to nest in J. chinensisand J. formosana (explained 63.7% pf the variation). Our results can provide a reference for how to protect birds in urban greening.

Key words: Grey-capped Greenfinch, nest-site selection, tree species, concealment.