BRAMBLING 195 



The female braiubling usually sits very closely, and when forced to 

 leave her nest, she will scold the intruder from the nearest tree, the 

 male usually joining her. Some birds become surprisingly tame. 

 One picked Pearson's fingers while he was examining her nest although 

 the eggs showed no sign of incubation. Among the notes contributed 

 by the late A. Landmark to Collett's "Norges Fugle" is an account of 

 a yet more trusting bird which fmallj^ took food from his hand as she 

 brooded her eggs. 



The fledgmg period of the brambling probably does not exceed the 

 13 to 14 days noted for some allied finches. Only one brood appears 

 to be reared in the season. 



Food. — Throughout the colder months, the brambling's food con- 

 sists largely of seeds and, in the fall, small fruits. The seeds of the 

 spruce and the red berries of the mountain ash are greatly relished, 

 and Norwegian writers tell us that fewer bramblmgs may be expected 

 to leave that country when these two fruits are plentiful than at other 

 times. In western and central Europe bramblings consume quantities 

 of beech-mast, woods where such fruit can be obtained being among 

 their favorite haunts. Elder trees too are frequently despoiled of 

 their blue-black berries. In hard weather a flock of bramblings will 

 settle for weeks on and about a farm, to feed on the spilt grain and to 

 do much good by keeping down such weeds as the knot grass. In the 

 summer the birds vary their diet with insects. Collett found masses 

 of geometer larvae in the stomachs of those he dissected at that time 

 of the year, and he noted that young broods were entirely reared on 

 small insects such as Tipulidae. 



Voice. — In fall and winter, flocked bramblings keep up a rapid, low- 

 pitched twittering, which Tucker rendered as chuck-chuck-chiick. A 

 sharp scape is the note most commonly heard in the breeding season, 

 the bird's voice becoming louder and harsher if any danger threatens 

 the nest. The song of the male — if song it can be called — is a drawling 

 dree-e-e-e repeated again and again and often followed by a churring 

 note. It recalls that of the European greenfinch (Chloris chloris), 

 and bears some resemblance to the trill of the clay-colored sparrow 

 (Spizella pallida) of America. Although this simple performance 

 can occasionally be heard in early spring from males still in their 

 winter quarters, some ornithologists prefer to regard it as a kind 

 of subsidiary song. CoUett described the true song as sweet and 

 melodious, consisting of several flutelike notes, somewhat resembling 

 the redwing's (Turdus musicus) and heard only for a little while 

 after the birds' arrival on their breeding grounds. It should be added 

 that although many naturalists have visited the brambling's summer 

 haunts, some of them — including one of the present writers — early 



646-737— 68— pt. 1 15 



