THE BRAMBLING 
FRINGILLA MONTIFRINGILLA 
Loca names in surrounding counties: ‘‘ Bramble-Finch ” 
(Essex). 
Status IN BritisH AvirAuNA: A somewhat local and 
Capricious winter visitor, yet a common and widely 
distributed one. 
Raprat DistTRiBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: The Brambling is by no means an uncommon 
visitor to the Metropolitan area up to (and possibly nearer 
to the central districts) the four-mile radius. I have 
records of it from Battersea Park, Kensington Gardens, 
Regent’s Park, Clapham, Dulwich, and Peckham. North 
of London it is an irregular visitor to Hampstead, and 
has been observed at Highgate. In the more outlying 
districts its appearance, of course, becomes less note- 
worthy. I have met with this species in the Willesden, 
Wembley, and Twyford districts, about Ealing, Han- 
well, and Osterley. It is also of tolerable frequency, 
but not every winter, in the Hounslow, Bushey, Rich- 
mond, Wimbledon, and Streatham areas. ‘To these 
localities I have evidence of its occurrence to add from 
Merton, Mitcham, Croydon, Sydenham, Bromley, the 
Crays, Wanstead, and Epping. It is just as capricious 
and irregular in its appearance round London as elsewhere, 
and in some winters scarcely an example will be reported 
from districts where in other years it had been numerous. 
Although outside our limits, I may add that Burnham 
Beeches is a favourite resort of this Finch. In some 
parts of Kent also, within easy reach of London—Groom- 
bridge, for instance—it frequently occurs in large numbers. 
During its sojourn in our country the Brambling lives 
chiefly in flocks of varying size, which take up their 
quarters in suitable spots, and usually remain in their 
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