RUDDY-BREASTED BIRDS. 105 



considerable number, these bands sometimes consist- 

 ing of birds of one sex only. 



BULLFINCH— 6 inches. Although the male has a full, 

 ruddy breast, a sharply defined black cap distinguishes 

 both the male and female from the Chaffinch ; tail- 

 feathers wholly black. 



HAWFINCH — 7 inches ; crown, cheeks, and back fawny to 

 brown ; throat black. A thick-set bird, with massive 

 conical bill. 



BRAMBLING— 6i inches ; lower back whitjfS. 



BR AMBLING. — Plate 48. 6i inches. Head, 

 back, and part above the insertion of the tail 

 variegated, with dark centres and ruddy edgings to 

 the feathers ; rump white, mottled with black ; breast 

 and fore-part of wing orange-chestnut ; wings and 

 tail black, with lighter margins to the feathers, the 

 wings having a broad black patch between two white 

 cross-bars ; under parts white, mottled on the flanks ; 

 bill yellow, with black tip. Winter migrant. 



Distribution, — A winter migrant on the north- 

 eastern coast of England, and less regularly and 

 abundantly to the east coast of Scotland ; more or 

 less numerous farther south according to the severity 

 of the winter ; increasingly rare westwards in both 

 countries ; an irregular visitant to Ireland, although 

 known to have appeared exceptionally in large bands 

 and at long intervals in the north-east. 



The plumage described above is that of the 

 Brambling when it visits us as an autumn immigrant 

 from Scandinavia, the chief difference between this 

 and the breeding plumage being the absence of the 

 fine black head and mantle with, which the male 



