86 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



Amongst those birds who cross the sea are thrushes, 

 larks, finches, and the tiny goldcrest, so tender that 

 it dies if you hold it in your hand too long. The 

 fisherman of the North Sea and of different parts of 

 our dangerous coasts tell of birds taking shelter on 

 and about their vessels when the weather is rough. 

 They are left unmolested, and continue their journey 

 as soon as the storm is over. 



The bramble -finch, very like the chaffinch in 

 shape, though more sturdily built, is a bird of a 

 more Northern clime. In severe winters it migrates 

 southwards in vast flocks, and is often seen associ- 

 ated with the chaffinch in the beech-woods, where 

 the mast is his chief food. The winter plumage of 

 the bramble-finch, or brambling, is coloured with 

 shades of orange, brown, black, yellow, and white, 

 with here and there a touch of grey. His appear- 

 ance in the country is very uncertain, his visits de- 

 pending probably on the food to be got. Though 

 the bramble-finches eat insects and seeds, their 

 favourite food seems to be the beech -mast, and 

 as there is not a full crop of these every year, their 

 visits are consequently irregular. Unlike the school- 

 boy, who hunts for beech-nuts when they first fall, 



