78 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



some parts of the country many individuals of 

 both sexes remain throughout the winter, and do 

 not flock. Moreover, there is reason to suspect 

 that in some cases the observers have confounded 

 the male birds in immature plumage with the 

 females which they then resemble. 



Although a favourite cage-bird, the Chafiinch 

 rarely breeds in captivity. Mr. W. T. Page, in the 

 Avicultural Magazine, Nov. 1899, has described the 

 nesting of a pair in his own aviary. Materials having 

 been supplied, a nest was constructed, chiefly by the 

 hen bird ; four eggs were laid, and incubation lasted 

 fourteen days. The cock bird took no part in this, 

 but fed the hen on the nest. 



BRAMBLING. Fringilla m,ontifringilla, Linnseus. PI. 

 13, figs. 9, 10. Length, 6*25 in. ; wing, 3*6 in. ; 

 tarsus, 0*75 in. 



An annual winter visitant, often remaining till 

 late in the spring. It sometimes occurs in very 

 large flocks, as, for example, at Port Eliot in Corn- 

 wall, where one year, in January, many thousands 

 covered the beech trees, feeding on the " mast," 

 which was more than usually abundant (Rodd, 

 "Birds of Cornwall," Introd., p. xlvi.). When 

 seen at a distance, either perched or on the ground, 

 the Brambling looks not unlike a Chaffinch, but may 

 be distinguished by the white rump, conspicuous 

 when flying. The late E. T. Booth of Brighton 

 reported his discovery of the nest of a Brambling 

 in June 1866 in Perthshire (Zool, 1877, p. 60). 



