i^OTES FROM GARDEN AND FIELD ll7 



Fringilla montifringilla. — The Brambling, or Mountain 

 Finch, is one of our most interesting winter visitants. It 

 arrives, in twos and threes, about the end of October most 

 regularly. By the I'ith November the main body appears 

 at the same places every year. A beech wood, with the 

 mast falling, seems the attraction. Near my house a flock 

 of at least three hundred have frequented a grove of beech 

 trees in process of being cut down. The cutters, with carts 

 and horses, are there every day. The Mountain Finch is 

 a shy bird, but continued to feed till the 10th February of 

 the present year, when, having consumed all the mast, they 

 made off to the stackyards, where there is a good supply 

 of grain, on which they also feed. Before a storm it is a 

 pretty sight to observe them fluttering along in a pack, with 

 the white feathers about the tail and wings making them 

 very conspicuous. They seem well spread over the district, 

 and often are associated with Chaffinches and Greenfinches. 



The Snow Bunting, Plectropheitax idvalis. Snowfleck, or 

 Lesser Mountain Finch, is also an interesting winter visitant, 

 although never very plentiful in the Fasten^ Borders. It 

 usually is observed where sheep are artificially fed with bog 

 hay. There it feeds on the grass seeds on the hay, and 

 generally before or during a snowstorm. In winter it has 

 patches of white about its tail and wings, brown over the 

 back, and its legs and feet are jet black, as if they had 

 been varnished. It has an undulating flight, and a peculiar 

 tinkling call. When it alights it runs along the ground, 

 like a partridge. The plumage of this bird is whiter in 

 summer. In Sutherlaudshire I have observed them at that 

 season nearly white. The hind claw is like the Lark, 

 lengthened, and nearly straight. I had a specimen in my 

 hand, at West Foulden, on 5th February, shot out of a 

 family of eight, which were feeding on grass seeds laid 

 down with hay for the sheep. 



The Black-headed Bunting, Emheriza schoe7iiclus, seems to 

 be with us all the year through, many being seen about 

 stacks at the present time. The male is a very attractive 

 bird, with his black poll and white ring round his neck. 

 The female is also very pretty, the markings on the breast 

 and the rich coloured brown back being very conspicuous. 



