THE BRAMBLING. 99 



frequently indistinguishable from those of the Chaffinch ; but usually they are 

 decidedly greener, with smaller and less defined markings : a hen Brambling in 

 my possession, which must have been taken as a cage-bird to South America and 

 liberated there (I picked her out of a batch of newly imported Brazilian birds) 

 occasionally drops an egg from the branch on which she roosts ; these eggs are 

 greenish-blue, like those of a Hedge- Accentor, but with four or five deep brown 

 spots on sienna-reddish smears towards the larger end : of course they are always 

 broken when I find them. 



Like the Chaffinch, this species feeds largely on insects in the summer time, 

 and on various kinds of seed in the winter, it is especially fond of beech-mast, but 

 also eats the seeds of many noxious weeds, and fruit. On the ground it both runs 

 and hops, but chiefly the former. 



The call-note is usually described as a harsh chirp, probably referring to the 

 grating zshweco which it utters (in common with the Greenfinch, the Baya and 

 Manyar Weavers, and many other birds) ; if so I have no hesitation in asserting 

 positively that this is its note of defiance, inasmuch as it not only utters it after 

 its song, but when disputing with another bird. I suspect the true call-note to 

 be a sharp whit. The alarm-note according to Seebohm is a hurried ziv, ziv, but 

 I have not heard this note from any of the birds which I have kept. The song, 

 which I have frequently heard sung by two of my male Bramblings, is very like 

 that of the Chaffinch without the terminal notes ; as, however, it is generally 

 followed, almost immediately, by the harsh cry of defiance, it would almost seem 

 as if this might represent the wheat-ear or tissi-ear of that species. The scale of 

 the Brambling is rather shorter than in the song of the Chaffinch, and delivered 

 with less vehemence ; but, in this respect, individuals may differ. 



A pair of Bramblings formed part of the little collection with which I com- 

 menced my studies in aviculture : I kept them with a pair of Goldfinches, a Hedge- 

 Accentor, and one or two other birds, in a large home-made flight-cage. These 

 were the worst tempered Bramblings I ever had, they disputed incessantly, and at 

 first gave the hen Goldfinch a wretched time of it, viciously pecking her whenever 

 she went down to feed near them : but one day the cock Brambling made a mis- 

 take and pecked the male Goldfinch, which simply sprang at him, grasped his body 

 with its claws, and tore a bunch of feathers from his breast. After this both 

 Goldfinches were let alone, but the male and female Bramblings fought incessantly, 

 the hen eventually pecking out one of her husband's eyes, soon after which he died : 

 curiously enough she only survived him a few days. 



In 1886 I purchased a charming male bird of this species, so gentle and tame 

 that its plumage was always in perfect condition ; it was passionately fond of bath- 



