EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 243 



THE BEAMRLING. 

 (Fringilla montif ring ilia.) 



Plate 57, Fig. 1. 



The Brambling is only known as a winter migrant to our 

 islands, arriving late in the autumn and remaining until early in 

 the following spring. It is confined to the eastern hemisphere, 

 and ranges from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It breeds throughout 

 the northern portions of the Palasarctic region, frequenting the 

 pine, but more often the birch trees, at or near the limit of 

 forest-growth. 



The nest is very handsome, not quite so neatly and compactly 

 made as that of the Chaffinch, and is rather larger. Its principal 

 beauty is derived from the mixture of green moss, lavender-coloured 

 lichens, and white birch-bark, interwoven with cobwebs, thistle- 

 down, and buff inner birch-bark, interwoven with cobwebs and 

 feathers. 



Six is the usual number of eggs, but sometimes there are only 

 five, and occasionally as many as seven. They vary in size from 

 0'85 by 0'6 inch to 075 by 0'55 inch. Some eggs of the Brambling 

 cannot be distinguished from those of the Chaffinch, but as a rule 

 the ground-colour is greener, and the spots smaller and paler. 

 The pale bluish-green ground-colour is generally washed here and 

 there with patches of reddish-brown, which look like underlying 

 spots that have run. The overlying spots vary from the size of 

 No. 10 shot down to a point, and in colour from pale reddish- 

 brown to very dark brown ; sometimes they are absent altogether. 



THE CHAFFINCH. 



(Fringilla ccdebs.) 

 Plate 56, Figs. 19, 20. 



The Chaffinch is one of the commonest of our native birds, and 

 is found in all suitable localities throughout the British Islands. 

 It breeds throughout Europe, in Scandinavia as far north as the 

 Arctic circle and occasionally beyond, but in the Ural Mountains 

 only up to lat. 62°. 



The nest of the Chaffinch, being so elaborate and highly finished, 

 naturally takes some little time in its construction ; indeed, with 



