CHAFFINCH 65 
many old trees, feeding in the farmyard with House 
Sparrows, Chaffinches, and Yellow Hammers. 
Mr. T. H. Nelson states in Zoologist (October 1903, 
p- 392): ‘My friend Mr. Bacon informs me he has known 
of its nesting in the garden at Seafield for several years past.’ 
In the spring of 1904 Mr. Leach observed a pair nesting 
in a tree at ‘ Belle Vue,’ in the valley of the Douglas river, 
just outside the town. The nest, which was formed in the 
hollow at the end of a broken branch, was, however, pulled 
out before completion, the neighbourhood being a much 
frequented one. 
The Tree Sparrow is a species of very sporadic dis- 
tribution over Great Britain. In Ireland it is only known 
to nest in Co. Dublin. In Cumberland only one per- 
manent colony was known to Mr. Macpherson. It has a 
number of breeding localities in Lancashire, and more 
especially Cheshire, though a very local bird. Messrs. 
Oldham and Coward have met with it in several places in 
Anglesea. It breeds in a number of the Hebridean islands, 
even on St. Kilda and apparently North Ronay. 
FRINGILLA CELEBS, Linn. CHAFFINCH. 
SPINK (so called in Lonan, as in Lancashire, etc.). Manx, Ushag- 
y-choan=bird of the valley (Kermode) ; Ushag veg ureck 
=little pied bird (Peel, Miss Morrison). (Cf. Manx and 
Se. Gaelic names for the Wagtail, and Sc. Gaelic, Breacan- 
becthe = Chaffinch. ) 
The most abundant of all our small birds, the Chaffinch 
is indeed common in Man wherever trees and hedges are 
found. It does not inhabit the wild bushy places on the 
coast, where the Blackbird, Robin, and Wren are found, but 
is well distributed through all our plantations, the little 
groups of larch trees in hilly districts being favourite 
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