256 E. Hopkinson—Chaffinches and Bramblings in Captivity



CHAFFINCHES AND BRAMBLINGS IN

CAPTIVITY


By E. Hopkinson

Chaffinch (Fringilla ccelebs Linn.)


The authorities say that it has often been bred both in cages,

outdoor aviaries, and bird-rooms. The earliest British record I know

is Croker’s in 1914 (B.N., 1915, 341), but no doubt they had been

bred before.


Mr. Meade-Waldo told me (in lit . 25-1-1930) that he bred the

Canary Islands’ race, F. coelebs canariensis V., about 1905, and

Mr. Blaauw wrote, 5-4-33, that he had bred the Algerian race,

F. c. spodiogenys Bp., in his aviaries at Gooilust, Holland, “ many

years ago.”


Hybrids 1


Chaffinch x Greenfinch


Recorded in Page’s book and in B.N., 1912, 216. Paterson gives

an account of one hatched and fully reared in a garden aviary in 1911.


Chaffinch x Brambling


First bred by Miss Reeves in Kent in 1906 ; on this Allen Silver

writes ( B.N. , 1907, 174), “ Miss Reeves reared two in 1906. . . . This

year she has continued her experiments on a larger scale . . . (and

has) already about a dozen young birds fending for themselves. They

have been bred both ways . . . were reared in wild nests.” (See also

under Brambling.)


Chaffinch x Canary


TestePage, who probably based his statement on A.31., 1908, 241,

where Alys Gorter -writes that she (or he) has one young hybrid alive

and sends a dead one for examination. Of the correctness of the

identification, the Editor (Dr. Butler) is doubtful. Another case of

the same kind has been recorded in Germany.


1 At the Crystal Palace Show, December, 1903, was exhibited a bird

described as a cross between an English Chaffinch and an American Nightingale

hen, one year old. I remember the bird well and noted at the time that it

looked exactly like an ordinary hen Chaffinch.



