290 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



House Sjoarrow ; but he only occasionally noticed one near Christ- 

 church. I have shot them myself as a boy at Wokingham^ in Berk- 

 shirCj and I should judge that they were widely scattered throughout 

 the country, though perhaps little known. 



Fringilla Calebs. " The Chaffinch/'' or " Pink " as it is sometimes 

 called, from its note. Of bachelor habits, as its Latin name implies, 

 the males during the winter remaining together in the more northern 

 parts, the females as a rule penetrating further south. One of our 

 most beautiful nest-builders — its mossy cup- shaped nest, perched on 

 some apple-bough, or against the side of some forest-tree, being a 

 perfect pattern of neatness. Its reiterated spring song is very lively 

 and cheering. 



Fringilla Montifringilla. " The Mountain Finch," or ''Brambling." 

 This very handsome bird is almost entirely a winter visitant to us, 

 though I see Meyer mentions one or two instances of its breeding in 

 Suffolk and Surrey. It is very irregular in its appearance amongst 

 us ; but when it does come, it is very often seen in enormous flocks. 

 In the year 1868 these birds visited our neighbourhood in vast num- 

 bers, one might say, in thousands. Forty were killed by a man, at 

 one shot, whom Mr. Norwood asked to obtain some specimens for him, 

 aud they were common in that winter throughout the entire district. 

 It was about this time that Champion tells me he saw a flock of 

 many hundreds in the parish ; and one evening, when he put them 

 up in Longford Pai'k, the noise of their 'onngs in rising made a 

 rushing sound which could be heard a long distance ofi". Since 

 that date he caught six or seven dozen in a day at Pentridge, near 

 Martin, and could have caught, he tells me, as many more as he 

 liked, but not being good songsters, he did not care for them. 

 King, of Warminster, also bears witness to the large flocks that are 

 seen about here occasionally. " Why, Sir," he said to me, " some 

 winters you may get hats-full at a time." During the last two 

 winters, however, , I have neither seen, nor heard of any being seen, 

 in the neighbourhood. 



Carduelis Spimis. " The Siskin." This little bird is not very 

 uncommon in our immediate district, and in winter it sometimes 

 appears in considerable flocks. In 1875 they were plentiful in the 



