272 GREEN GROSBEAK OR GREENFINCH. 
over the mainland of Britain and in Ireland, 
frequenting cultivated districts in the vicinity of 
gardens and limited plantations. During winter 
they congregate in large flocks, feeding on the 
stubble ground on various small seeds, and resort- 
ing towards nightfall to the vicinity of the planta- 
tions or evergreens surrounding some mansion, 
flying for a time around, and clustering, before 
taking up their roost, on the top of some bare 
tree. Their sleeping place is returned to night 
after night through the winter, and the flock may 
be seen assembling and taking up the perches 
in the same bushes with great regularity. In 
spring, when paired, they resort to the garden 
and shrubbery, breed in the various cover which 
is there afforded, and at this time the male 
may be seen in the morning rising with slow 
or heavy strokes of wing, uttering his simple note, 
and performing his long winding flight peculiar 
to the season of love. The nest is placed at no 
great elevation, and is built rather carelessly, the 
base being formed of small twigs or slender roots, 
the remainder of mosses often interwoven with 
wool, and lined with a few feathers or hair. The 
eggs are of a bluish or greenish white, spotted 
with dark purplish brown, and two broods are 
commonly hatched in the year. 
In Europe the Greenfinch is distributed with 
nearly equal profusion as in Britain, decreasing 
towards the south and north, and ceasing entirely 
in the extreme parts of the latter. It was seen 
by Mr Strickland at Smyrna, and by some, Japan 
