32 CHAFFINCHES. 



neighbourhood. But, when I came to observe them much 

 more narrowly, I was amazed to find that they seemed to me 

 to be almost all hens. I communicated my suspicions to 

 some intelligent neighbours, who, after taking pains about the 

 matter, declared that they also thought them all mostly females ; 

 at least fifty to one. This extraordinary occurrence brought 

 to my mind the remark of Linnaeus, that, " before winter, all 

 their hen chaffinches migrate through Holland into Italy." 

 Now, I want to know, from some curious person in the north, 

 whether there are any large flocks of these finches with them 

 in the winter, and of which sex they mostly consist ? For, from 

 such intelligence, one might be able to judge whether our 

 female flocks migrate from the other end of the island, or 

 whether they come over to us from the Continent.* 



We have, in the winter, vast flocks of the common linnets, 

 more, I think, than can be bred in any one district. These, I 

 observe, when the spring advances, assemble on some tree in 

 the sunshine, and join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as if 

 they were about to break up their winter quarters, and betake 

 themselves to their proper summer homes. It is well known, 

 at least, that the swallows and the fieldfares do congregate 

 with a gentle twittering before they make their respective 

 departures.f 



You may depend on it, that the bunting, emberiza miliaria, 

 does not leave this country in the winter. In January, 1767 

 I saw several dozens of them, in the midst of a severe frost, 

 among the bushes on the downs near Andover ; in our wood- 

 land enclosed districts it is a rare bird. J 



* Mr Selby says, that Ct in Northumberland and Scotland, this 

 separating takes place about the month of November; and from that 

 period till the return of spring, few females are to be seen, and these few 

 in distinct societies." To this, however, there are exceptions, as we 

 have met them of both sexes during the depths of winter. We can say 

 confidently, that during several years' residence in the county of Fife, 

 the females in our shrubbery and garden were as plentiful as the males ; 

 and that the sexes were not separated into distinct societies. ED. 



f Linnets in a state of captivity do not acquire the fine colours with 

 which they are adorned during the summer months while at freedom ; 

 the fine red tinge of the nuptial season never appearing. 



" At once brilliant and soft," says Bechstein, " the song of the linnet 

 consists of many irregular notes, tastefully put together, in a clear and 

 sonorous tone, which continues the whole year, except in the moulting 

 season.*' ED. 



| The common buntings congregate during winter, but do not migrate. 

 We, however, receive accessions of them at the fall, from more 



