THE GREENFINCH 



LIGURINUS CHLORIS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Green Linnet " 

 (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed resident throughout well -cultivated and 

 timbered districts, its numbers increased in autumn by 

 migrants. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Greenfinch may fairly be described as a 

 common resident in every part of the Metropolitan area 

 at all suited to its requirements. It nests regularly in 

 many of the urban parks, from Regent's Park and Battersea 

 Park outwards, and there are few private grounds con- 

 taining evergreens throughout the inner suburbs to which 

 it does not resort. As the surroundings become more 

 rural the bird becomes increasingly common as a nesting 

 species. In winter it is even more widely dispersed, and 

 may then be seen in still more central districts. I have 

 records of this Finch from the Green Park, St. James's 

 Park, Victoria Park, Russell Square, and Lincoln's Inn. 

 In the more outlying suburbs flocks are often observed, 

 and the bird frequently associates with Sparrows and 

 other seed-eating species. Possibly some of the straggling 

 individuals may be migrants, and many of the flocks seem 

 undoubtedly to be so. The Greenfinch, I may add, 

 haunts several of the great cemeteries in London. I 

 have seen it in those of Kensal Green, Brompton, and 

 Highgate. 



The tremulous, twittering song of the Greenfinch is a 

 by no means uncommon sound close to inner London 

 during April and May. It may lack the sweetness and 

 variety of other homely species, but when several birds 

 are warbling in concert the effect is very pleasing. 



