FINCHES 79 



The hen bird was seen on the nest, and Mr. Booth 

 was too good an observer to have been mistaken. 

 Under exceptionally favourable conditions the Bram- 

 bling has been known to breed in captivity (Hewit- 

 son, "British Birds' Eggs;" Gurney and Fisher, 

 who give a figure of a white variety, Zool., 1846, 

 p. 1312; and Stevenson, "Birds of Norfolk," vol. i. 

 p. 204). 



GOLDFINCH. Carduelis elegans, Stephens. PL 13, figs. 

 11, 12. Length, 5"25 in.; wing, 3 in.; tarsus, 0*5 in. 



Kesident and generally distributed, but to a 

 certain extent migratory in spring and autumn. 

 Reported to be much scarcer everywhere now than 

 formerly, owing to the enclosure of commons, the 

 cultivation of waste land (to which it is attracted 

 by the docks and thistle-heads), and the machina- 

 tions of bird-catchers. 



As to its former abundance in the south of 

 England and its present scarcity, see Hussey, Zool., 

 1860, p. 7144; Booth, "Rough Notes on British 

 Birds;" A. C. Smith, " Birds of Wiltshire," 1887, 

 p. 202 ; and Report of Parliamentary Committee 

 on Wild Birds, 1873. Mr. Mansel Pleydell, 

 however, reports that in Dorsetshire, since the 

 passing of the " Wild Birds Protection Acts," Gold- 

 finches have become more numerous. See the 

 remarks of Prof. Steenstrup (Ihis, 1866, p. 212) on 

 the preference shown by the Goldfinch for the pith 

 of the willow and lime, and the mode in which its 

 long conical beak enables it to extract it. 



