THE BRAMBLING. 97 
family—FRINGILLIDAE. Subfamily—FRINGILLIN. 
THE BRAMBLING. 
fringilla montifringilla, LANN. 
F the distribution of this species Howard Saunders says :—‘‘To the Feroes 
() the Brambling is only an exceptional visitor. On the mainland it breeds 
throughout the sub-Arctic pine and birch forests, from Norway to the valley of 
the Amur: while on migration it occurs in Japan, China, Northern India, Asia 
Minor, and the whole of Europe; but it is only in very severe winters that it 
pushes its wanderings to the African side of the Mediterranean. Immense flocks 
sometimes visit Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Heligoland; but statements that 
this species has nested in the Pyrenees, the Alps, or the Ardennes, are as yet 
unconfirmed.” (Manual of British Birds, p. 177). 
To Great Britain the Brambling is chiefly a winter migrant, although there 
is reason for believing that a few pairs have occasionally remained to breed with 
us. Although pretty generally distributed throughout our islands in winter, it 
appears to be rather more numerous in Scotland than in England, whilst in 
Cornwall, the west of England, and the south of Ireland, it is rarer than else- 
where; and in very severe winters it is more abundant, but particularly near 
beech-woods. 
The adult male in breeding plumage has the upper parts blue-black, some of 
the feathers with tawny margins, the middle of the lower back and rump white; 
scapulars and lesser wing-coverts bright tawny; median coverts white; greater 
coverts black, tipped with white, so as to form a prominent bar; quills smoky 
black; the primaries with narrow yellowish white margins, the inner ones with 
white bases; secondaries with white margins towards their extremities; upper 
tail-coverts black, with ashy tips; tail black, the outer feathers with a little white 
at the base of the inner web, and about half the outer web broadly white; sides 
of head black; throat and breast reddish tawny; belly white, the flanks spotted 
with black, and the thighs black behind; under tail-coverts white, tawny on the 
vent; beak blue-black; feet reddish-brown; iris hazel. After the autumn moult 
the feathers of the head and back have broad tawny margins, as also have the 
tips of the greater wing-coverts and the innermost secondaries; the quills and 
Vor. II. R 
