46 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



and vegetable down. The four or five eggs are 

 bluish white, speckled and spotted with reddish 

 brown and gray ; they are smaller than those of 

 the Greenfinch, and the markings are finer. In 

 spring the sweet song of the Goldfinch is heard 

 repeatedly ; and the bird's singularly plaintive 

 call-note sounds more frequently still from the 

 trees and thickets. This latter may aptly be 

 expressed as ee-gleet or twee-eet. Insects and 

 larvae are the Goldfinch's principal food in sum- 

 mer ; various seeds, especially of the dock and 

 the thistle, during the remainder of the year. 



One other Finch is found in the shrubberies 

 and the park, but only during the winter months, 

 widely and this is the BRAMBLING (F. montifringilla). 

 Like the Redwing and the Fieldfare, this pretty 

 bird is from the Scandinavian woods, arriving on 

 our shores early in November, returning north 

 again with the beginning of spring. The prevail- 

 ing colours of its plumage are black above and 

 orange-buff below, but in autumn much of the 

 black is concealed by buff margins to the feathers. 

 Bramblings, during the whole period of their stay 

 with us, are gregarious and social, flocking freely 

 with Chaffinches and other hard-billed birds. 

 They are very fond of sitting on the tree-tops in 

 the shrubbery, especially towards sunset, all 

 twittering loudly together. Nightly they seek 

 the shelter of the evergreens with the Redwings, 

 and all the winter through they often remain 

 attached to one particular place. Beech mast, 

 grain, seeds, and insects are the Brambling's 

 staple food. I do not find that separation into 

 exclusive flocks of the sexes during winter in this 

 species as may often be remarked in the Chaffinch. 



