90 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



have read somewhere that in an aviary they are quar- 

 relsome with other birds: all I can say is that such is 

 not at all my experience. 



They are as fond of flies and other small insects as 

 the Chaffinch, but make a sad bungle of eating a 

 mealworm. I found them decidedly liable to a kind 

 of skin disease which I have called "leprosy", for 

 want of a better name, that principally attacks the 

 head and face, beginning round the beak; the feathers 

 fall out, and the skin becomes hard and dry, and 

 covered with yellowish white scales. It is very dis- 

 figuring of course but does not appear to affect the 

 birds' health, and is, I should say, brought on by the 

 heating nature of their diet. 



In the Zoological Gardens Catalogue the Brambling 

 is classed with the true Finches, which, I think, is a 

 pity, as its habits approximate it to the Buntings, but 

 it and the Chaffinch, together with the Nonpareil and 

 Indigo Bird, might well constitute a family apart. 



The accepted scientific name (quite a misnomer in 

 my estimation) is Fringilla montifringilla. 



