150 BRITISH BIRDS. 



GREENFINCn Liqvrinus cMoris (L.). S. page 169. 



Outer Hebrides. — Breeds at Stornoway and probably has 

 done so for some time (N. B. Kinnear, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 

 1907, p. 19). 



The Greenfinch was not previously known as a breeding 

 species in the Outer Hebrides. 



HA-WFINCH Goccothraustes vulgaris Pall. S. page 171. 



Mr. Saunders wrote in 1899 that the Hawfinch had been 

 " steadily increasing in numbers during the last fifty years."' 

 The bii'd has undoubtedly continued to increase since Mr. 

 Saunders wrote, and it is moreover extending its breeding 

 range, especially in a northward and westward direction. This 

 fact is a most important one, and it is to be regretted that 

 there appears to be little accurate information available to 

 trace the increase satisfactorily, although in those regions, euch 

 as Scotland, where the bird is still rare, its movements have 

 been well recorded. Without more exact data it is impossible 

 to discover the reasons for the increase. 



The late Prof. Newton remarked in 1906 " eighty years ago 

 or thereabouts. Hawfinches were accounted scarce visitors to 

 England, and it was only a few years after that they were found 

 to breed here. We do not know now what it is that tempts 

 them, but it must be connected with new woodland growth, and 

 it is instructive" (Irish Nat., 1906, p. 136). 



Mr, H. E. Howard has ascribed the increase of the Hawfinch 

 to the increase of the human population and to the corres- 

 ponding increase of market gardens, ai'guing that this pi'ovides 

 food in June and July when these birds most need it, as in 

 autumn and winter there are plenty of berries of various kinds 

 (Zool., 1901, p. 465). 



This seems to be a plausible idea, and is boi-ne out to a 

 certain extent by the observations of others, but, Avithout further 

 facts, any reason assigned to account for the increase of the 

 Hawfinch must be theoretical. Wetherefoi'e beg the readers of 

 British Birds to make careful observations, both of the 

 numbers of this bird in their districts, as well as the nature of 

 their food, and forward the results to the Editors, in order that 

 a more exact " census " of the Hawfinch may be taken. 



England. — The increase in England has been chiefly noted 

 in the north and west, where the bird was uncommon, but it is 

 undoubtedly increasing also in those counties where it was 

 formerly common. In certain parts of Hampshire there has 

 been a notable increase ; for instance, in the cultivated parts of 

 the New Forest district (H.F.W.), and in other parts of the 

 county (cf. Birds of Hants, p. 61, and Zool., 1901, p. 465). " In 

 Shropshire the Hawfinch was looked upon as a rare bird in the 

 sixties, but by the year 1900 it had become numerous throughout 



