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Dresser found them numerous in the spring throughout the country, and procured many nests in 

 the neighbourhood of Uleaborg. He first had his attention attracted to this bird by its call-note, 

 which very closely resembles that of the Common Greenfinch ; and scarcely a day passed during 

 his journey northwards along the coast that he did not hear this harsh loud call, generally uttered 

 from the very top of a tree. Von Nordmann says that in this country it returns from the south 

 earlier than the Chaffinch. Meyer says that it is found in Livonia, in conifer and green woods : 

 it is a migrant, appearing in April and May, and sometimes in autumn, never, however, being 

 seen in winter, nor does it nest there. An excellent note on the occurrence of the bird in 

 Denmark will be found below, from the pen of our kind friend Mr. A. Benzon. 



In Germany they arrive as soon as the cold weather sets in, remain in different parts of that 

 country during the winter in flocks, and return again to the north in the spring, only in very 

 isolated instances remaining to breed in North Germany. It is generally distributed and common 

 throughout the country in winter. Mr. H. M. Labouchere writes to us as follows: — "The 

 Brambling visits Holland on its autumnal migrations, immense numbers passing through the 

 country in company with Chaffinches. Great use is made of this bird on the ' Vinkenbanen,' 

 or places where the Chaffinches are caught, its extraordinary strength of sight enabling it to see 

 flocks of birds in the distance long before the human eye can distinguish any thing, and to warn 

 the bird-catcher by its kape Jcape to be on the alert for the arriving birds." In Belgium, according 

 to De Selys-Longchamps, it arrives in October, remains over the winter, leaving in April, a few 

 breeding in the Ardennes in the beech-trees ; he once killed an adult bird in July, near Liege. 



Godron says that in Lorraine it " arrives in autumn and departs in spring ;" and it is, according 

 to Kroener, sedentary in Alsace and Lorraine during the winter, and is found both in the moun- 

 tains and plains. Degland and Gerbe say that it is found every year in the northern departments 

 of France, in large flocks, as soon as the frost sets in. It is everywhere abundant in severe 

 winters near Dunquerque, where quantities are killed. It disappears about the end of February. 

 MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapornmeraye say that it is common during migration in Provence, 

 its passage commencing late in October and continuing into the winter, and it returns northward 

 in the spring. According to Bailly it is found in Savoy only on passage, and never breeds there. 

 The first arrive near Chambery from about the 5th to the 10th of October, and are then found 

 singly or in flocks with other Finches. About the 15th or 20th of the month they begin to pass 

 in flocks, and late in October and in November are most numerous. They pass again on their 

 journey northward late in February or early in March, generally about the time of the last 

 frosts. A few remain there as late as April. Lord Lilford tells us he saw it occasionally near 

 Lausanne in the winter of 1850-51. Herr von Pelzeln mentions several specimens from Austria 

 and Hungary as having been shot in the winter season ; and Count Wodzicki says it arrives in 

 the autumn and spring in large flocks, but certainly does not nest in the Carpathians. In Styria, 

 Seidensacher writes, " it arrives in November, or sometimes late in October, occasionally in small 

 numbers, but generally in large flocks." 



Lord Lilford informs us that he has received specimens of the Brambling from the province 

 of Guipuzcoa, North Spain, but is told that it is not a common bird in that locality. Major 

 Irby says that in Southern Spain it is only seen in winter, and then in limited numbers ; but 

 Mr. Howard Saunders states that " in very hard winters, such as that of January 1868, Brarnblings 



