368 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



which this species has been more abundant than usual, viz., they 

 are very brightly coloured in comparison with those individuals 

 which breed with us. And I think this fact can only point to 

 their foreign origin. It is worth while considering where these 

 immigrants may come from. 



The range of the Hawfinch, according to Prof. Newton's 

 edition of ' Yarrell,' is shortly as follows : — Found occa- 

 sionally in the extreme south of Norway ; in Sweden it 

 extends further north (Mr. Howard Saunders says that it is only 

 a winter visitor even to South Scandinavia). Still rarer in Fin- 

 land. In Kussia, not generally north of 60° (but Mr. Harvie 

 Brown informed Prof. Newton that an example had been obtained 

 at Archangel) ; more common in the south. Throughout Middle 

 and South Siberia. In Mongolia rather numerous, and said to 

 be of double passage. In China it ranges from Pekin to Shanghai, 

 and occurs in Japan ; examples from this locality have been des- 

 cribed as a variety C. vulgaris japonicus, but are said by Mr. 

 Dresser to be matched by those from Spain and Italy. Not yet 

 in India (in the north-west of which country Mr. H. Saunders 

 says the paler C. humii occurs), but found, though rarely, in Persia. 

 Resident in Asia Minor. Met with once in Palestine and occa- 

 sionally strays to Egypt, where a single example is said to have 

 been procured. More frequent in Algeria. Scarce in Morocco. 

 Throughout Europe, the northern parts excepted as above men- 

 tioned, but local. It is generally a resident as to the adults, but 

 the young of the year wander in autumn. 



There is a note in the 4th edition of * Yarrell ' to the effect 

 that Mr. Dresser states that the Hawfinches from Northern 

 Europe are duller than those from more southern countries, but 

 that natives of our islands are perhaps the dullest of all, though 

 sometimes a British example may be found as richly coloured as 

 any from Southern Europe. I take it that these exceptional 

 birds were migrants. As our winter birds are brighter than the 

 breeding resident examples, the former may of course come from 

 Northern Europe, or from more southern countries. That might 

 perhaps be decided by actual comparison. We should not, how- 

 ever, expect an immigration of birds either from Spain or Italy 

 in winter, and, granting that the birds procured with us in some 

 seasons are too bright to have emanated from Northern Europe, 

 we must look eastward for their home. 



