204 BIEDS OF NORFOLK. 



The brambling thrives well in confinement, and is a 

 sprightly handsome bird, though rather inclined to be 

 spiteful to its fellow captives ; it is also peculiarly 

 wakeful, and its sharp call note is heard at all hours 

 of the night on the slightest disturbance. Its migratory 

 instinct is also strongly marked in spring by an in- 

 creased restlessness during the day, and a constant 

 searching for any means of escape; whilst the call of 

 the male bird is repeated night after night (more 

 particularly at the time of the full moon), from the 

 beginning of April till about the end of May. This 

 feverish state of excitement, moreover, recurs periodi- 

 cally in specimens, which have been kept in confinement 

 for several years, but I have not remarked the same 

 symptoms in autumn, the additional influences of the 

 breeding season no longer existing. Mr. Hewitson 

 (Eggs Brit. Bds., 3rd ed.) gives an interesting account 

 of the nesting of the brambling, in the aviary of 

 the late Mr. Dashwood, at Beccles, Suffolk, and 

 Messrs. Gurney and Fisher have recorded a similar 

 occurrence near Norwich, in the aviary of Mr. Chas. 

 Barnard, of this city, who has for many years paid 

 much attention to the rearing of cage birds, and has 

 been particularly fortunate with this species. In 1842, 

 he had a nest and two eggs, both of which were removed 

 and found to be good ; in 1843, one nest with two eggs, 

 and subsequently four more in a second nest which was 

 accidentally destroyed ; and in 1844, the same pair also 

 laid two eggs, as in all previous instances, during the 

 month of June. From that time this species did not 



gated there nightly, but since this invasion of northerners the 

 ancient inhabitants have been dispossessed; but they have not 

 forgotten their former homes, and now that returning spring has 

 warned our new friends to seek more quiet quarters before pairing 

 and building time comes upon them, the starlings are again 

 making their appearance in great numbers." 



