98 BRITISH BIRDS. 



" The Brambling is a very irregular and uncertain visitor to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Sheffield, and seldom appears two consecutive years in one 

 locality in the same numbers. When once a .flock of Bramblings appear 

 in a district they seldom leave it until the following spring. All winter 

 they are found either upon the fields or in the woods, and they are re- 

 markably regular in their movements. Soon after their arrival they 

 frequent the beech-woods to feed upon the nuts ; and it is an animating 

 sight to see the trees literally alive with these charming birds, each busy 

 eagerly shelling out the coveted nuts from their hard sheath. The 

 whole flock keeps up a noisy clamour of twittering notes, and may be 

 closely approached. In winter a favourite 'haunt of the Brambling is 

 in the newly manured fields for this bird I am certain is far more 

 insectivorous at this season than is generally supposed. The flock keeps 

 well together ; but if alarmed they fly off in a long straggling train, trooping 

 away to some tree-top, which is soon darkened by their numbers, and their 

 notes, heard from a distance, are like a low continuous murmur. As soon 

 as the cause of their alarm subsides the birds fly down once more, a few at 

 a time, until they are all engaged feeding as before. The Brambling is 

 not abroad very late in the evening (in fact all Finches, as a rule, retire 

 to roost early) and about sunset may be seen at their usual resting-place. 

 When we have a " Brambling-year " near Sheffield, great numbers of the 

 birds always roost in the shrubbery in Meersbrook Park, in company with 

 Redwings. The Redwings use this quiet retreat every season ; and the 

 Bramblings are equally attracted when they pay their nomad visits to the 

 district. They are remarkably noisy birds, and sit upon the tree-tops 

 twittering to each other until dusk ; they sometimes fly up into the air in a 

 compact mass, and after wheeling round several times again alight. They 

 roost in the yew and holly trees, and a fair proportion of them seek quarters 

 in the ivy. The Brambling and the Chaffinch seem fast friends and may 

 always be found in company." 



The Brambling frequently breeds in a spruce-fir, but more often in a 

 birch. The nest is usually fifteen to twenty feet from the ground, and 

 generally built in the fork of a large branch from the main stem. Oc- 

 casionally they build at a less elevation. The nest is very handsome, not 

 quite so neatly and compactly made as that of the Chaffinch, and rather 

 larger. Its principal beauty is derived from the mixture of green moss, 

 lavender-coloured lichens, and white birch-bark, interwoven with cobwebs, 

 thistle-down, and buff inner birch-bark. The nest is lined with fine grass 

 and feathers. Six is the usual number of eggs, sometimes there are only 

 five, and occasionally as many as seven. They vary in size from '85 by '6 

 inch to '75 by '55 inch. Some eggs of the Brambling cannot be distin- 

 guished from those of the Chaffinch ; but, as a rule, the ground-colour is 

 greener and the spots smaller and paler. The pale bluish-green ground- 



