THE BRAMBLING. 141 



as regards England, it must be remembered that they 

 seem to be always comparatively rare in the midland, 

 and still more so in the western counties. 



Some idea of the numbers in which this bird is 

 sometimes met with in winter may be gathered 

 from what has been reported from Cornwall and 

 Stirlingshire. 



In a note from Mr. Mewburn, of St. German's, 

 printed in Fox's Synopsis of the Newcastle Museum 

 (p. 253), the writer, referring to a specimen of the 

 Brambling which he had obtained and forwarded to 

 this Museum, says : " I selected it from among 

 thirty or more killed at the same shot as being the 

 finest in plumage, for they varied much. The 

 gardeners informed me that they were then scarce 

 to what they had been during the severe frost, when 

 they amounted to many thousands in a flock, and 

 quite covered the beech trees, upon the mast of 

 which they fed, and which was that year more than 

 usually abundant." 



In January 1867 an extraordinary number of 

 these birds was seen in Stirlingshire by Mr. Harvie 

 Brown, as recorded in Gray's Birds of the West of 

 Scotland. In the observer's own words, " The 



