3 
In Ireland it is found in many parts of the island, but is, Thompson says, by no means generally 
distributed. It does not appear to have ever straggled as far north as Iceland; nor has it been 
met with in the Feroes, but is tolerably common in Southern Scandinavia, though not found far 
north. Mr. Robert Collett says that it breeds here and there in the southern lowlands, but is 
seldom seen except during passage and in winter. On the west coast it breeds at Stavanger, in 
Hard, and Nordmoér. Northward it has been met with at Trondhjem and Snaasen, in 642° N. 
lat.; but though said to occur in Finmark, this requires confirmation. According to Professor 
Sundeyall it is “common throughout the whole of Southern Sweden, and found as far north as 
Upsala, but has not been met with in Lapland. It is a resident, but during the winter collects 
in flocks and wanders about the country.’ In Finland it is rare, and has only been observed 
since about 1840 in the neighbourhood of Helsingfors; but latterly it has been also recorded 
from Borga and Lovisa. In Russia it occurs as far north as Archangel, where, however, it is 
rather rare than otherwise. Mr. Sabanieff informs me that it is resident throughout the 
Governments of Orloff, Voronege, Kieff, and Charkoff, but becomes rarer further north. He 
also met with it in the birch-woods on the eastern slope of the Ekaterinburg district, in the 
Ural range. In the Baltic provinces, Poland, and throughout North Germany generally it is 
tolerably common and resident, only wandering about during the winter season. In Denmark, 
Mr. Benzon informs me, it is neither rare nor yet common during the summer, and _ breeds 
throughout the country, especially in localities where the chestnut-trees are common. In the 
autumn it becomes commoner, and tolerably large flocks may then be seen. In Western 
Germany, as elsewhere in that country, it is resident, and, Mr. Sachse informs me, breeds 
numerously at Altenkirchen, in Rhenish Prussia, and remains until the beginning of the winter ; 
but so soon as the snow falls and frost sets in most of them disappear, and take up their quarters 
in the warmer valley of the Rhine, only a few remaining throughout the winter. In Belgium 
it is a common and resident species; and in Holland, Mr. H. M. Labouchere writes to me, it is 
“common in the wooded districts of the provinces of North and South Holland and Zeeland, 
where I have often caught specimens. In the pine-growing provinces of Utrecht, Guelderland, 
and North Brabant, however, it is very scarce, and although I have spent whole summers in 
those parts of the country I never observed as much as a single Goldfinch. I have noticed that 
in the last-named provinces there is a great scarcity of thistles, nettles, and other weeds, which 
on the damp soil of the other provinces are very plentiful; and as these are the favourite food of 
these birds, their absence from those localities is no doubt due to this fact. In Switzerland I 
made the same observation, where, in the low, fertile plains in the neighbourhood of, Winterthur, 
Goldfinches are exceedingly abundant, whilst in the mountainous districts they are never to be 
seen at all.” In France, as elsewhere in Central Europe, it is resident; and in Portugal it is 
said to be extremely common. In Spain I observed it in all parts of the country I visited, and 
took its nest in the immediate vicinity of Madrid; and Colonel Irby says that it is without doubt 
the most abundant bird in the west of Andalucia. In Savoy it is resident, and common, some 
few leaving for the winter; and in Italy, though generally speaking numerous, it is somewhat 
locally distributed. In Sardinia, Mr. A. B. Brooke says, it is the commonest Finch in the island ; 
and in Sicily it is also numerous, and resident. Mr. C. A. Wright records it (Ibis, 1864, p. 54) 
as being “not very common in Malta and Gozo, arriving in October and again in April and May. 
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