BRAMBLING. 



53 



the spring-, or as soon as the pairing- season commences. The flight of 

 this bird, although usually confined to short distances, is very rapid, 

 and has not unaptly been compared to the passag-e of a dart through the 

 air. While in motion, it is always uttering- a small twittering note, by 

 which means it keeps the family together. It is often seen in company 

 with the golden -crested wren, and others of its own tribe.* 



Its food consists of insects and their larvce, in search of which it 

 pecks off the buds from the trees. *" It seems," says Knapp, " the 

 most restless of little creatures, and is all day long in a state of pro- 

 gression from tree to tree, from hedge to hedge, jerking through the 

 air with its long tail like a ball of feathers, or threading the branches of 

 a tree, several following each other in a little stream ; the leading bird 

 uttering a shrill cry of twit, twit, twit, and away they all scuttle to be 

 first, stop for a second, and then are away again, observing the same 

 order and precipitation the whole day long. The space travelled by 

 these diminutive creatures, in the course of their progresses from the 

 first move till the evening roost, must be considerable ; yet, by their 

 constant alacrity and animation, they appear fully equal to their daily 

 task."* 



BOTTLE TOM.— A name for the Bottle Tit. 

 BR AMBLIN.— The young of the Snow Bunting. 

 BRAMBLING (Fringilla montifringilla, Linnaeus.) 



* Fringilla montifringilla, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 318. 4.— Faun. Suec. No. 233.— Gmel. 

 Syst. 1. p. 902. sp. A.— Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 439. sp. H.—Raii, Syn. p. 88. 

 — Will. p. 187. t. 45. — Briss. 3. p. 155 — Fringilla lulensis, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 



902. sp. 5 Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 452. sp. 63. young female. — Le Pinson 



d'Ardennes, Buff. Ois. 4. p. 124. t. 14 lb. pi. Enl. 54. f. 2. male Gros- 



Bec d'Ardennes, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 360. — Chardonneret a, quatre 



raies, Buff. Ois. 4. p. 210.— Berg-fink, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 3. p. 97 



Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 151. — Frisch, t. 3. f. 2. — Brambling, or Mountain 



Finch, Br. Zool. 1. No. 126.— Arct. Zool. 2. p. 381. E Lewin's Br. Birds, 



t.80 Albin, 3. t. 64 Will. (Ang.) p. 254. t. 45— Lath. Syn. 3. p. 261. 13. 



—Mont. Orn. Diet. — Wale. Syn. 2. t. 218 Don. Br. Birds, 4. t. 85 



Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 12 — Bexcick's Br. Birds, 1. t. p. 163. male Shaw's 



Zool. 9. p. 444. t. 65. f. 2. copv from Bewick. — Lulean Finch, Lath. Syn. 8. 



p. 278 Venn. Arct. Zool. '2. p. 380. B. — Selby, pi. 54. figs. 8. 9. 



p. 272. 



Provincial. — Kate.* 

 This species is rather larger than the chaffinch. Length about six 

 inches. 



The bill is yellow, tip black ; irides dusky. The head, hind part of 

 the neck, and back, black ; some of the feathers edged with rusty brown 

 and ash-colour, which last predominates on the back of the head and 

 side of the neck ; the throat, breast, and upper coverts of the wings, 

 ferruginous orange ; middle coverts yellowish white ; the greater coverts 



