3 
In Europe the Hawfinch inhabits the central and southern districts, becoming rarer towards the 
north, and not extending its range into the north of Scandinavia. ‘To the eastward it is met 
with as far as Japan; and to the south it is met with as far as Northern Africa, where, however, 
it is rare. In Great Britain it is a resident, and is much more numerous than it used formerly 
to be. I can recollect when it was considered to be a rare bird in parts of Kent, where it now 
breeds regularly, and would be numerous were it not that the owners of orchards destroy it 
whenever they get the chance of so doing. It breeds commonly in many parts of Southern 
England; and Mr. A. G. More writes that it nests regularly in Wilts, Kent, Surrey, Essex, 
Middlesex, and Bucks, and that its nest has also been found in Dorset, Hants, Sussex, Herts, 
Berks, Oxford, Suffolk, Norfolk, Warwick, Rutland, and Derby. Mr. Cecil Smith informs me 
that it is “a regular but not very numerous winter visitant in Somerset; and some must remain 
to breed in various parts of the county, as on the 27th of June, 1872, a friend who lives about 
four miles off, at Fitzhead, sent me a young bird which could only have left the nest a short time; 
this bird had been picked up nearly dead in his stable-yard, where it was caught by the cat. I 
still have the skin. There is also in the Museum at Bath a Hawfinch about the same age, said 
to have been killed near there.” Towards the north of England it becomes rarer, and appears 
chiefly to occur during the winter. - Mr. Cordeaux (B. of Humber Distr. p. 53) speaks of it as 
being an occasional but uncertain winter visitant in Yorkshire, but adds that during the last 
ten years it has become commoner. In Scotland it is rare. Mr. Robert Gray records the capture 
of a specimen near Newton Stewart, in Wigtownshire, in January 1871, and says that it has been 
traced from Dumfriesshire to East Lothian, thence to Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, and Caithness, 
in all of which counties several specimens have been obtained. ‘Thompson states that it occa- 
sionally visits Ireland during the winter; and he gives many instances of its occurrence; but it 
does not appear to have ever been met with breeding in that country. In Scandinavia it occurs 
only in the southern portions of the country, and becomes very rare further north. Mr. Robert 
Collett informs me that it is now and then seen in the southern portions of Norway, but can 
scarcely be considered an annual visitant. It has frequently, he says, been seen near Chris- 
tiania in the winter and spring, but has most frequently appeared at Nedenes, in Christiansand 
stift. It has twice been obtained at Fredrikshald. In Sweden it is also met with; Nilsson says 
that he has only seen it in Halland and Skane, but that it had also occurred, though rarely, near 
Stockholm; and Professor Sundevall, whose work is of recent date, states that it ‘‘ occurs 
sparingly here and there in the southern half of Sweden, from Skane to Wermland, Dalarne, 
and Vestmanland, and possibly occurs further north, as Zetterstedt speaks of it as having been 
observed in the Asele district. Von Wright says that it has only twice or three times occurred 
in Finland, once in December and once in May, and one was also observed in June near Hel- 
singfors by Professor Nordmann. In Russia it is, Mr. Sabanieff informs me, rare in the north, 
and has not been observed above the district of Rostoff. Near Moscow it is only seen during 
passage, but has been met with in the Government of Smolensk during the breeding-season. It 
has been seen near Novaja Ladoga, and is very rare in the Governments of Kazan and Simbirsk. 
In the Ural it does not range far north, but is met with rarely in the southern portions of the 
Government of Perm on the eastern slope. Martin observed it near the Sesertsk hills; and 
Sabaniieff himself believes it to be common on the western slope in the Niazepetrofisk Ural. 
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