PASSERES. { 166 ) FRINGILLIDM. 



THE BRAMBLING. 



MOUNTAIN FINCH, BRAMBLE FINCH. 



Fringilla montifringilla. 

 %^z Cock 0* t|)e jl^ort^* 



When biting Boreas, fell and dourc. 

 Sharp shivers through the leafless bovj r ; 

 When Phcebus gies a short-lived glow' r 



Far south the lift. 

 Dim-dark' ning through the flaky show'r, 



Or whirling drift. 



Burns. 



The " Cock o' the North " is mostly associated in our minds 

 with the severe weather of winter, when deep snow covers 

 the level expanse of the Merse, and curlers are on the ice ; 

 for then it is seen in small numbers about the stackyards, 

 feeding with the Chaffinches and Linnets on any waste 

 grain or seeds which it can find. 



It is an autumn and winter visitor to most parts of the 

 county, coming from the north in October and Novem- 

 ber, and returning northwards again in March and April.^ 

 Although the Brambling is seen in Berwickshire every year, 

 it is much more plentiful in certain districts in some years 

 than in others, its visits being somewhat erratic and un- 

 certain, so far as particular localities are concerned. 



When the weather is mild it frequents the open fields 

 with flocks of Chaffinches and other birds, and as it 



1 Mr. George Bolam records seeing one in his garden at Berwick-on-Tweed in 

 the spring of 1884 as late as the IstofMay.— ^zsi. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. x. p. 588. 



