84 THE BIRDS OF OXPORDSHIRE. 



newly drilled with spring* corn, where numbers in brilliant 

 plumage may be seen scattered over the rich red-brown earth, 

 together with Yellow Hammers, Corn Buntings, Larks, 

 Greenfinches, Tree and House Sparrows, and a few Reed 

 Buntings. With the present system of drilling, which effec- 

 tually hides the seed in the ground, they cannot do much 

 damage, and probably pick up only a little scattered grain ; 

 but when the corn was sown broadcast and afterwards less 

 perfectly covered by the action of the harrow only, a con- 

 siderable quantity was doubtless eaten by the birds, and one 

 cannot help wondering if the tradition of good feeds on 

 newly-sown fields has been handed down among them from 

 pre-drilling days. 



It was formerly believed that the sexes of the Chaffinch 

 separated during winter, and this appears to be the case 

 in Northern Europe but not generally in England. I have on 

 one or two occasions in winter met with small flocks composed 

 entirely of hen birds, which were probably immigrants from 

 Scandinavia. 



The Chaffinch is known in Oxon as the ' Piefinch,' from its 

 pied plumage, and also as the ' Peafinch,^ pronounced ' Payfinch,' 

 perhaps from its occasional depredations among young peas. 

 Any damage, however, that it may do, and it is very slight, 

 the Payfinch makes good over and over again by destroying 

 innumerable caterpillars (upon which it feeds its young almost 

 entirely) and other insects ; it is perhaps our most insectivorous 

 finch, and one of our most useful birds. 



1! 



THE BRAMBLING. 



Fringilla montifringilla. 



The Bramble Einch, or Brambling, is a winter visitor 

 of irregular occurrence. In some years hardly any will 

 be noticed, while in others very large flocks appear. On their 

 first arrival Bramblings haunt the vicinity of beech trees, 

 feeding greedily on the fallen mast, and it is said that in 



