214 FRINGILLID/E. 



or autumn of 1826, however, a very considerable number 

 appeared in central Europe, sometimes in troops of from 

 twenty to fifty, which of course attracted some attention, 

 particularly as has been already said, from Gloger and the 

 eldest Brehm. Virtually this was the year of its discovery 

 as an European bird, for the previous observations, in 

 Sweden, Britain and Switzerland, had been almost entirely 

 overlooked. How far this particular visitation (the head- 

 quarters of which seems to have been in Silesia and 

 Thuringia) extended cannot be said, but there is evidence of 

 stragglers in the course of that autumn or of the following 

 winter having reached the neighbourhood of Vienna, Munich, 

 Nuremberg, Liege, Antwerp and Copenhagen. Possibly 

 some even remained to breed, or else a second visitation 

 followed, for in the severe winter of 1829, according to Von 

 Kettner, it appeared on the mountains of the Murg valley in 

 Baden. Since this time it has been observed in Hungary 

 (Isis, 1843, p. 86), several times in Bohemia, and frequently 

 in Germany, appearing, say Drs. Blasius and Baldamus, 

 almost yearly in the Harz in company with the common 

 species, and it is recorded also from Tyrol and the Berga- 

 masco southward, w?hile w'estward it has reached the neigh- 

 bourhood of Caen in Normandy. It has also more than 

 once visited Belgium as in September 1842, and November 

 and December 1845, when flocks appeared. In February 

 1846 it was seen in Holland' near Utrecht. Mr. Gatke 

 has occasionally obtained it in Heligoland, where it is, how- 

 ever, very rare. It visited Denmark in October 1845 and 

 December 1849, and was observed in Norway, in August 

 1840, October 1852 and in the autumn of 1858 — each 

 time in the botanic garden at Christiania. In Sweden it 

 continues to come at uncertain times to Stockholm, near 

 which city, as Avell as near Gottenburg and in Scania, it was 

 especially observed in the autumn of 1845, and it has also 

 occurred at Gefle, but is not yet recorded from any more 

 northern locality in that or the sister kingdom. In Finland 

 Magnus von Wright stated in 1849 that it had been of late 

 years observed near Helsingfors, where the younger Von 



