234 ^ ^'^ Nesting uj the Brambling. 



er 



rected, as the bird seems very fond of doing; the inner part of 

 the crest is a buff-yellovvy-pink shade, and this colour is repeated 

 on the throat, a round patch on the cheeks, and a band across 

 the breast. AH tiie colour shades are rather pale at present, and 

 will probably be nuich more intense as the bird matures. It is 

 very handsome, also very tame and does not mind one going 

 close to it. 



^M^> 



The Nesting of the Brambling. 



(Fringilla montifringilla) 



By R. Suggitt. 



It is chiefly as a winter visitor that we in the British 

 Islands know the Brambling, but there is some reason to believe 

 that odd pairs have remained to breed in suitable localities in our 

 Northern Counties. Several specimens have been noted in Eng- 

 land in mid- April and early May, and one male has been observed 

 in Yorkshire, as late as June 28th. This bird was probably one 

 of a pair, nesting somewhere in the vicinity. I had the good 

 fortune, on June 14th, 1903, to watch for about an hour, a 

 female, w^hich had been attracted to the garden by a pair of 

 Bramblings in the aviary. 



It may be that these very late occurrences were " es- 

 capes," but I think it is more probable that they were nesting 

 birds. Several instances of nests having been discovered in Eng- 

 land are recorded, but most of these records are regarded as 

 untrustworthy. A genuine nest was found in 1866, in Scotland. 



The quarrelsome disposition of the Brambling. when as- 

 sociated with other birds, is his gravest fault as an aviary bird, 

 and in summer, when he has attained the full beauty of his black, 

 brown and white plumage, he is at his very worst, some individ- 

 uals being simply murderous. There are exceptions to this rule 

 however, and the pair I now possess proves that the Brambling 

 can behave himself, even in summer. 



This pair someone had turned into the aviary, without 

 my knowledge, in the late autumn of 1914. I expected that I 



