FRINGILLINA 183 
THE CHAFFINCH. 
FRING{LLA C@LEBS, Linnzus, 
The Chaffinch is a common and generally distributed species 
throughout the cultivated or wooded portions of the British Islands, 
especially in the north of England; it may even be found nesting 
in low bushes in some of the treeless Outer Hebrides, as well as the 
Orkneys, and also at a considerable elevation on the mountains of 
Scotland, where it is undoubtedly increasing. As yet it has not 
been recorded as breeding in the Shetlands, although it visits them, 
especially in October, and some birds remain for the winter. At 
that season large flocks arrive from the Continent on our east coast, 
while other bands, from the north of our island, spread themselves 
over the inland provinces. Owing to a partial and temporary 
separation of the sexes at this time, the name ce/ebs, or bachelor, 
was used by Linnzeus in reference to the deserted males. Mr. 
Barrington considers it the commonest passerine bird in Ireland. 
As a wanderer the Chaffinch has been obtained in the Feroes, 
and in summer it occurs, in comparatively small numbers, nearly up 
to the North Cape; while south of the Arctic circle it is generally 
