vast clouds in France, insomuch that the ground has been quite covered with their dung, and more than six 
hundred dozen were killed each night.” 
The flight-power of the Brambling is quite equal to those of the other conirostral birds, such as the 
Linnet and Twite. When passing from place to place, or from the feeding-ground to its place of roost, its 
flight is undulating and of remarkable swiftness. 
Tlie sexes differ considerably in colour, presenting in this respect a similarity to the Chaffinch, the female 
being much less brilliant than the male. 
In summer the male has the head, cheeks, nape, and upper part of the back shining bluish black ; chin, 
breast, sides of the neck, scapularies, and all but the last row of the lesser wing-eoverts rich rusty or 
yellowish fawn-colour ; the excepted row of coverts are pure white ; greater wing-coA erts dull black, tipped 
with buff and white ; primaries dull brownish black, finely margined with primrose-yellow, and with a mark 
of white on the outer web, forming an oblique band across those feathers ; secondaries darker than the 
primaries, margined with whitish on their apical half, and with a white mark near the base, forming an 
oblique band in an opposite direction to the one on the primaries ; axillaries stained with yellow ; lower part 
of the back white ; upper tail-coverts black, fringed with grey ; tail greyish black, the outer feather paler 
than the others, and having a narrow band of white commencing at the base of the outer web, and passing 
obliquely to near the tip of the inner one, where it unites with a line of white, bordering that part of the 
web ; under surface white, ornamented with oblong spots of black on the flanks ; vent stained with fawn- 
colour; bill blackish blue, lightest at the base; feet and legs fleshy brown; irides very dark hazel, 
approaching to black. 
In the female, the parts which are black in the male are mottled with brown ; the lower part of the back 
is greyish white ; the markings of the wings are similar, but very much less decided ; and the primaries, 
secondaries, and tail-feathers are brown ; the throat and under surface buff, becoming paler on the lower part 
of the abdomen ; tbe bill yellow at the base of the under mandible ; upper mandible horn-colour. 
In winter the male has the parts which are deep black in summer mottled with fawn-colour, the margins 
of the feathers being of that hue ; the lower part of the back nearly black ; the primaries more strongly 
margined with primrose-yellow ; and the secondaries with rich fawn-colour ; bill yellowish white at the base, 
with a black tip. 
The female is similar ; but the black marks on the head assume the form of a border to the crown and a 
line down each side ot the back of the neck ; the sides of the neck are grey ; and the general colouring much 
fainter than in the male. 
The Plate represents a male, a female, and a nest of the size of nature, and a reduced bird in the distance 
in the plumage of winter. 
