P'RINGILLIN.t, 



163 



THE HAWFINCH. 



COCCOTHRAUSTES VULGARIS, PallaS. 



The Hawfinch is a bird of shy and retiring habits, and unless at- 

 tention be attracted to it by the shrill and — when once heard — un- 

 mistakable whistle, its presence may easily escape detection. There 

 can be no doubt that its numbers have been steadily increasing during 

 the last fifty years ; and, though its distribution is local, its nest has 

 perhaps been found in every county in England, excepting Corn- 

 wall, as far north as the Lake district, where the bird becomes rare. 

 To Wales its visits — even to Brecon — are exceptional, although it 

 breeds sparingly in Herefordshire. In spite of the extension of the 

 metropolis, the Hawfinch is not yet banished as a breeding-species 

 from the county of Middlesex, and it is comparatively common in 

 Essex, Herts, fiucks, Berks and Surrey, while in some portions of 

 Kent it may almost be called abundant. In Scotland it has been 

 obtained accidentally in winter, both in the Solway district and as 

 far north, possibly, as Banff; but Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley 

 have not found it in Sutherland, and are evidently sceptical as to its 

 reported occurrence in Caithness. To Ireland, according to Mr. 

 More, it is a rare and irregular migrant in winter. 



Even in the south of Scandinavia the Hawfinch is only a winter- 

 visitor, but in Russia it has been found nesting as far north as 

 the St. Petersburg district. Over Central Europe, in suitable 

 localities, it appears to be generally distributed, although nowhere 

 very common ; but in the south, from Spain to Turkey, and in Asia 



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