MOUNTAIN FINCH. 539 



England in winter, even as far as the extreme southern 

 counties of Dorsetshire and Devonshire. Mr. Couch in- 

 cludes it in his Cornish Fauna ; and E. H. Rodd, Esq., of 

 Penzance, has sent me word that a pair of these birds were 

 killed near the Land's End in the winter of 1836-37, which 

 are now preserved in his collection. William Thompson, 

 Esq., of Belfast, includes it in his notes sent me as one 

 that occasionally occurs in winter in various parts of Ire- 

 land. Sir William Jardine, in reference to Dumfries -shire, 

 says it appears in flocks about the beginning of November, 

 frequenting beech trees, and feeding on the mast; and 

 Mr. Macgillivray mentions having fallen in with a flock 

 also on some beech trees about a mile from Corstorphine, 

 near Edinburgh, from which he shot two birds, and has 

 seen many others that had been killed in Scotland. 



It is not an uncommon bird in Denmark. Mr. Hewit- 

 son saw them at one place in the southern part of Norway, 

 where they were breeding ; it is known to breed also in the 

 woods of Norholm and Drontheim, and breeds in Lapland. 

 M. Nilsson says that in the southern parts of Sweden it is 

 only a winter visitor, appearing in autumn, and remaining 

 till April. This species is described as building in fir trees, 

 the nest formed of moss, and lined with wool and feathers : 

 the eggs, four or five in number, white, tinged with yellow, 

 and spotted with dark red, like those of the Chaffinch. The 

 call -note of this bird is a single monotonous chirp. 



This species ranges in winter over the European conti- 

 nent as far south as Italy, Sicily, and Malta ; was seen by 

 Mr. Strickland at Smyrna ; and is included by M. Tem- 

 minck in his Catalogue of the Birds of Japan. 



The male in winter has the beak yellowish white, with 

 the point bluish black ; the irides brown ; the top of the 

 head, cheeks, ear-coverts, nape of the neck, and the back, 

 mottled with brown and black, each feather being black at 



