BR AMBLING. 183 



The Brambling, or Lesser Mountain Finch, of Willughby 

 is undoubtedly the Snow Bunting. 



Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : 



Fringilla montifringilla. Mountain Finch A few met with in 

 most districts every winter ; occasionally more abundant. 



This pretty Finch is a constant winter visitant, but irregu- 

 lar in numbers, being very abundant in some years and 

 comparatively scarce in others. It may generally be expected 

 in the first or second week of October, though an exceptionally 

 early date is the 2nd of that month in the year 1901, when 

 several were noted at the Teesmouth ; it was also recorded 

 at Wakefield on the same date in 1883 ; the earliest arrival 

 at Spurn was on the 26th September 1896. It is fairly well 

 distributed, and, as it is particularly partial to beech mast, 

 the woods where this fruit is in greatest abundance are most 

 favoured by its attentions. 



In 1864 these birds were very numerous, and in 1898-9 

 they were particularly abundant, thousands being seen in 

 the beech woods, where they were very tame and allowed a 

 close approach. In the dales it is sometimes met with almost 

 on the edges of the moors and occasionally remains till late 

 in spring ; one or two were seen on Bluberhouse Moor on loth 

 April 1887, though it usually takes its departure before this 

 time. The latest record for Spurn is the 9th of April, when 

 a beautiful male in breeding plumage was observed. 



In severe winters, when frost and snow cover up its 

 ordinary feeding grounds, it betakes itself to the stack yards, 

 and there consorts with Chaffinches and other small birds, 

 returning to the fields and woods with milder weather. It 

 was unusually plentiful in the farm-steads in Cleveland 

 during the hard frost of January and February 1895, and in 

 November 1896, it was common in south Holderness. 

 Seebohm stated ("Br. Birds," Vol. ii., p. 98), that in a 

 " Brambling year" great numbers resort nightly to roost in 

 Meersbrook Park near Sheffield, in company with Redwings. 



The migration in autumn commences as a rule in October, 

 and continues in some seasons until December or early in 

 January of the following year. Late in autumn flocks, 



