06 THE BIRDS OF DEVON. 



Kingsbridge, and Plymouth. "\Ve have seen and obtained many ourselves, 

 and so also have Messrs. E. A. S. Elliot and 11. P. jS'icholls. During the 

 serere frost of December 1 890 Mr. Elliot found a large flock of Brarablings 

 amongst the reeds of Milton Ley, together "with Tree-Sparrows, Liu- 

 nets, &c. 



Bi'amblings were especially abundant in the winter of 1852-53, January 

 and Eebruary 1855, November and December 1804, December 1870, 

 January 1871, January 1881, December 18i)0, and January 1801. 



An adult male occurred at Landkey, near Barnstaple, July 20, 1856 

 (M. A. M., Zool. 1857, p. 5346). 



The late Mr. F. "W. L. Boss, of Topsham, informed us in 1854 that a 

 pair of Bramblings had bred in his garden, but we are inclined to think 

 that it must have been in his aviary, where he kept many kinds of small 

 birds. 



In severe weather we have often observed this beautiful bird in Xorth 

 Devon in company with other Einchcs crowding the stack-yards, but 

 have never met with it in the great concourses which we have sometimes 

 encountered in Somerset in the neighbourhood of beech trees, the mast 

 of the beech being a very favourite food. We have found Bramblings 

 entertaining cage-birds. At the migration-time they become very restless, 

 dashing themselves to and fro in the cage, and their uneasiness greaUy 

 increases towards evening, the time chosen by nearly aU birds for their 

 journeys. 



Linnet, Linota cannahina (Linn.). 



[Brown Linnet (in winter) ; Bose, Fiery, and Bed Linnet (in spring) : 

 Dev. Greater Bedj)ole of Montagu.] 



Bcsident, generally distributed and abundant. 



Although reported to be becoming scarcer in some parts of the kingdom, 

 owing to the continuous breaking up and enclo-ing of commons and wastes, 

 we do not believe that the cheerful Linnet is at all decreasing in numbers 

 in the "West Country, where furzy patches still abound to provide its 

 favourite shelter. A familiar little bird, with a ])leasant song, we should 

 indeed be sorry were it to be banished, and agriculturists might with reason 

 lament it, as it renders good service by feeding eagerly upon the seeds of 

 various injurious weeds. 



The adult male in his full spring apparel is an extremely handsome 

 bird, with his forehead ?.nd breast of the brightest rose-red ; in the autumn 

 moult these brilliant tints disappear and are replaced by wood-brown, 

 and all through the winter the '-Brown Linnet," as he may then properly 

 be termed, is a dull and inconspicuous bird, to be met with in large flocks 

 in stubbles and turnip-fields, and often by the sea-side, where the seeds of 

 maritime grasses provide him with food. 



The immense flocks seen on the stubble-fields in autumn and winter 

 are probably immigrants from the Xorth and East. They sometimes visit 

 the mud-flats iu the estuaries of our larger rivers to feed on the seeds of 



