THE HAWFINCH 
COCCOTHRAUSTES VULGARIS 
Loca names in surrounding counties : 
Status In British Avirauna: A local resident, spar- 
ingly distributed over England and Wales, but only an 
accidental visitor to Scotland and Ireland. 
RapriaL DisTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: The comparative abundance of the Hawfinch 
within the Metropolitan area is probably due to the bird’s 
shy and secretive habits. Perhaps it is nowhere quite 
so common as in the Epping district, although there 
are parts of Kent—in the Crays, for instance—that 
might run that area close for the distinction. Passing 
north, we find the bird resident in the Muswell Hill, En- 
field, and Hampstead districts, also in those of Barnet, 
Harrow, Wembley, Twyford, Ealing, Chiswick, and Oster- 
ley. On the “Surrey side” it is found as a resident in 
the vicinity of Richmond, Coombe Wood, Wimbledon, 
Burgh Common, Mortlake, Ewell, and Croydon, besides, 
of course, various intervening localities. How close to 
the central portions of our radius the Hawfinch actually 
breeds it is difficult to say, but it has been recorded as 
having done so at Dulwich, which comes within the 
five-mile circle. ‘There are private grounds where this 
Finch might breed and be overlooked even nearer to the 
city than that. In winter the bird often wanders into 
localities where it does not breed. It has been seen at 
Streatham, and I can record it from the Willesden, 
Twyford, and Wembley areas. 
‘The Hawfinch is one of the most secretive of our native 
birds, and its presence in a district is very often quite 
unsuspected, except ascertained by chance or the most 
careful and persistent observation. Then, again, the 
bird-catcher is responsible for its decreasing numbers, or 
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