84 FRINGILLID.E. 



coincide with the appearance of the bough, that, but for the 

 appearance of the female on the nest, it could not be identi- 

 fied from it. 



During winter the chaffinch collects in flocks, and becomes 

 a regular attendant at the farmyard and highway, and is an 

 occasional intruder on the localities monopolized by the spar- 

 row, so that we often observe it, at that season, feeding in 

 the streets and public thoroughfares, with other visitors from 

 the country, driven in by the severity of winter. 



Indigenous. 



SPECIES 80 THE MOUNTAIN FINCH. 



Fringilla montifringilla. Linn. 

 Oros-bec des Ardennes. Temm. 



THIS handsome and cleanly plumaged finch is only an occa- 

 sional winter visitant, and, like the siskin, varies considerably 

 in numbers. 



Occurring in a greater proportion in the north of Ireland, 

 it gradually decreases as it approaches the south, where it 

 is only obtained during unusually severe weather. 



Sometimes occurring about the eastern portion of the 

 island, a few specimens are occasionally obtained in the vici- 

 nity of Dublin. Its habits and manner of living are said to 

 resemble those of the chaffinch, which it also resembles in 

 general form. 



Resorting to large plantations where the beech is plentiful, 

 and by the Danube, where this tree luxuriates, 100,000 of 

 these birds often assemble together, and frequent its vicinity 

 during autumn ; and, according to Degiand, so plentiful are 

 they in winter, in their migrations on the French coast, that 

 he has seen them killed by thousands near to Dunkirk. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



GENUS XL PASSER (SPARROW). 



SPECIES 81 THE COMMON SPARROW. 

 Passer domesticus. Linn. 

 Gros-bec moineau. Temm. 



THE SPARROW is the best known of all our native birds ; 

 not only on account of its more frequent occurrence, but 

 for its independent air and determined pertinacity in accom- 

 panying man to the remotest solitude. Perfectly at home in 



