E. HopJcinson—Chaffinches and Bramhlings in Captivity 257


Brambling ( Fringilla montifringilla Linn.)


Three were reared by Suggitt in 1916. See B.N., 1916, 292, and

1917, 234 ; the last being a full account of the event by the breeder.

This appears to be the only record of success, for Neunzig says, “ not

yet bred.” 1


Hybrids


Brambling x Chaffinch


This cross was bred by Reeves in 1906 (a good number) and House

about the same date. Allen Silver writes of Miss Reeves’ successes,

in A.M., 1911, 34, that the eggs were collected from a large aviary,

which contained opposite sexes of the two Finches, and hatched and

reared in the nests of wild Robins, Hedge Sparrows, Great Tits, etc.,

in the neighbourhood, the young hybrids being removed from these

before they flew. Since 1907 at least twenty of these hybrids had been

reared to maturity. With the article appeared a coloured plate showing

both sexes of the cross, and in a note to it the Editor says that

“ Mr. John House of Dundee bred five Brambling-Chaffinch hybrids

six years ago ”. In the Reeves’ case one has to realize that captivity

played but a minor part, as only the pairing, egg-laying, and final

rearing took place there. Both Yale and Page include the cross in

their lists, and the former says that such hybrids are fertile, but on

what authority is not stated, and in any case he w x as probably referring

to wild bred hybrids.


A more recent record of the rearing of a Brambling-Chaffinch

hybrid is reported by Sweetnam in A.M., 1932, p. 179.


The cross the other way was also bred by Miss Reeves (see under

Chaffinch).


1 Mr. Merriman, of Chesham, tells me in a letter ( October , 1934), that he

knows of a recent success with Bramhlings ; a Mr. Carr told him that he had

bred, reared, and moulted Bramble Finches in 1934, and that one, a hen, had been

exhibited. I hope this was, or will be, put on record somewhere.



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