THE FINCHES 



1557 



A somewhat rare species, and only occurring on the lower grounds when driven by 

 a heavy fall of snow from its usual haunts, this chaffinch is known to the goat- 

 herds, tending their flocks in the highest parts of the mountain. The adult male 

 has the entire upper parts rich dark blue; the wings and tail black, edged with slate 

 blue; and the under parts blue, fading into dull white on the abdomen. In the fe- 

 male bird, the blue garb of the male is replaced by dull grayish brown. 



The brambling {F. montifringilla) is one of the characteristic birds 

 of the northern parts of the Old World, nesting in the forest regions 

 of the Arctic circles, whence it journeys to winter in Southern Europe, Persia, and 

 even India. In Siberia, Dr. Radde states that ' ' the brambling remains occasion- 

 ally during the summer and breeds there. On the sixteenth of May 1859 I found 

 it not far from Tuukinsk; and on the fourteenth of July 1855 I met with a family of 

 them a few versts above the village of Kotchirikowa, the young birds of which were 

 fledged. The male then killed was in molt, the crown being almost featherless. 

 Only a few visit the high steppes of Dauria in spring; thus, for instance, a male was 

 shot in the hedge of the kitchen garden at Kulssutayef sk ; on the other hand they 

 were numerous during the autumn migration at the Tarei-Nor. On the fifteenth of 

 August I saw only a few males, on the sixteenth only a female; and on the twenty- 

 sixth large flocks, consisting of young birds of both sexes, arrived. On the 

 thirtieth they increased in numbers and frequented the neighborhood of the kitchen 

 garden. Later, when the night frosts set in, they took refuge at night in the 

 high reeds which grow round the ponds. 

 Here they remained till the eleventh of 

 September; but then the large flocks 

 were wanting, and I only saw strag- 

 glers up to the fifteenth of September. ' ' 

 Usually the brambling lays a larger 

 number of eggs than any other of the 

 finches, seldom less than six and more 

 generally seven; and when compelled to 

 leave its nest to seek food, or for any 

 other purpose, the bird is in the habit 

 of covering its eggs, which are laid 

 late in May or early in June. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Collett the brambling gener- 

 ally builds in a birch or spruce close to 

 ,the main stem, and about six or seven 

 yards from the ground. The nest is con- BRAMBUNG. 



structed like that of the chaffinch, but 



generally more of moss. The eggs closely resemble those of the chaffinch; but in 

 the latter the general color is grayish brown not grayish blue, and the spots are 

 smaller. Gould states that all the nests which he observed were composed of green 

 mosses and fine, dried grass, interwoven with cobwebs and externally decorated with 

 flat pieces of white lichen and thin threads of birch bark. They were lined with fine 

 wool and some feathers of the white grouse; but we have seen quite a variety of feath- 



