THE BRAMBLING. 145 



a single well-authenticated case of the kind. This 

 has been recorded by Mr. E. T. Booth in The 

 Zoologist for 1877 (p. 60), and in the Catalogue of 

 Birds in his Museum. He says : " In the summer 

 of 1866, while fishing on the River Lyon, in Perth- 

 shire, I had occasion to climb a beech tree to re- 

 lease the line which had become entangled in the 

 branches, and while so engaged a female Brambling 

 was disturbed from her nest, containing three eggs, 

 which was placed close to the stem of the tree. As 

 I was anxious to procure the young, I left her, and, 

 on again visiting the spot in about a fortnight, the 

 nest was empty, and, judging by its appearance, I 

 should be of opinion that the young birds had been 

 dragged out by a cat." 



So competent an observer as Mr. Booth is not 

 likely to have mistaken a Chaffinch for a Bram- 

 bling, and the fact of the hen bird having been 

 seen on the nest affords sufficient evidence that 

 the Brambling does at least occasionally remain 

 to rear its young in the British Islands. 



