BRAMBLING. 79 



and is delivered in a low undertone ending in a hoarse and 

 droning note, which is often the only part audible at a short 

 distance and is much like that uttered by the Greenfinch. 

 Mr. Walmesley who correctly describes the Brarnbling's song 

 (Zool. p. 1024) seems to be alone in having heard it in 

 this country, except when the bird is caged, and, as Blyth 

 remarked (Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. p. 487), it is not in the least 

 like a Chaffinch's. The call-note is a single, harsh mono- 

 tonous chirp and in captivity is frequently uttered at night, 

 on the slightest or even without any apparent disturbance, 

 and so sharply as to sound like a scream of terror. 



The Brambling is pretty generally distributed, subject to 

 the irregularity of its appearance before noticed, through- 

 out the British Islands in winter, its visits to the extreme 

 west of England depending a good deal, however, on the 

 severity of the weather. In Ireland, owing to the unfortu- 

 nate dearth of observers, less is known of its occurrences, 

 but since Thompson states that it sometimes appears in the 

 north by the thousand, and mentions three specimens which 

 had been obtained in Kerry, it evidently ranges over the 

 whole island, though, as Mr. Watters remarks, it gradually 

 decreases in numbers as it approaches the south. A small 

 flock has been once noticed in the Faeroes. On the continent 

 its breeding-range extends eastward to the Sea of Ochotsk, 

 and its limits in summer for Norway and Sweden have 

 already been approximately stated, but they cannot be defined 

 as regards the Russian dominions. In winter it occurs 

 almost all over temperate and southern Europe, and it 

 crosses the Mediterranean to Algeria, while it also reaches 

 Sicily and Malta. At the same season it also appears in 

 Greece, Asia Minor and Persia, after which we know little 

 of its limits in Asia, except that it is occasionally found in 

 the north-west Himalayas, till we get to China, where Mr. 

 Swinhoe has obtained it so far south as Amoy, and in 

 Latham's time it had been met with off the coast of Japan. 



The male in summer has the bill bluish-black : the irides 

 brown : the whole of the head and cheeks from the corners 

 of the lower mandible, the nape and sides of the neck and 



