80 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



ever, remain in different parts of the county 

 throughout the entire year, and in winter are 

 generally found on wild, bushy ground, among the 

 remote valleys of the Downs, or on hedges near 

 waste land or commons. The periodical arrival 

 of fresh birds in the spring is well known even to 

 the most inexperienced bird-catchers in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Brighton, and anxiously expected by 

 them for many days previously : the goldfinches 

 which have remained all the winter are called by 

 them " harbour birds," meaning that they have so- 

 journed, or harboured as the local expression is 

 here during that season ; those which arrive in 

 April are called " flight birds." When the latter 

 are expected the bird-catcher watches his nets 

 with an anxious countenance, and his disappoint- 

 ment is great, if upon releasing from the meshes a 

 newly captured prisoner, he perceives by the dull- 

 coloured back, dirty red forehead, and general 

 shabbiness of the plumage, that it is only what he 

 contemptuously terms " a harbour bird." Far dif- 

 ferent are his feelings when he entraps one with a 

 light-coloured back, snow-white cheeks, and bright 

 vermilion forehead; he knows then that "the 

 flight " has commenced, and the hour of sunrise 

 finds him at his post on the following morning, 

 anxious to avail himself of the precious moments. 

 It is worthy of remark that the "harbour birds" 



