CHAFFINCH 137 



said since the days of Linnaeus, takes place. Something remains 

 to be known on this subject. It is beyond dispute that large flocks 

 composed entirely of birds of one sex are often met with in autumn 

 and winter, both in this country and on the Continent. The 

 question about which ornithologists differ is as to whether or not 

 a separation of the sexes takes place among chaffinches of British 

 race. Seebohm says: 'It is probable that this peculiar habit is 

 confined to the birds that come to our shores in autumn ' ; and we 

 have it on good authority that no separation of males from females 

 takes place in the south and west of England. In the month of 

 September, at one place in Scotland, I observed the male chaffinches 

 gathered in small parties of three or four to a dozen individuals ; 

 these were the birds belonging to the district ; but the females had 

 vanished. Selby observed the same thing many years ago in 

 Scotland and the north of England. One can only suppose that 

 the migratory impulse is a little stronger or earlier in the female of 

 this species, and that the divergence between the sexes, in this 

 respect, becomes greater as we go towards the northern limit of its 

 range. 



B rambling. 

 Fringilla montifringilla. 



Head, cheeks, nape, and upper part of back black, the feathers 

 (hi winter) tipped with light brown or ash-grey ; neck and scapulars 

 pale orange-brown; wings black variegated with orange-brown 

 and white ; rump and lower parts white ; the flanks reddish, with 

 a few dark spots. Female: crown reddish brown, the feathers 

 tipped with grey; a black streak over the eye; cheeks and neck 

 ash-grey ; all the rest as in the male, but less bright. Length, six 

 and a quarter inches. 



The brambling, or mountain-finch, comes nearest in relationship 

 to the chaffinch, but differs very much in its glossy black, white, 

 and bright buff colouring, and is a much prettier bird. We do not 

 see it in its bright nuptial plumage in this country ; for it is an arctic 

 species, breeding in very high latitudes, in birch woods near the 

 limit of forest growth. Its nest and eggs resemble those of the 

 chaffinch, the nest being a compact and beautifully shaped fabric 

 that assimilates hi colour to the white and grey bark of the silver 

 birch. The bramblings arrive in this country during September 



