XIOUNTAIN FINCH. 
61 i 
Gloucestershire a few have been met with near Cheltenham; 
and some in Warwickshire near Leamington. At Lilford, 
Northamptonshire, the Hon. Thomas Littleton Powys has 
once met with it, and the Pev. P. P. Alington saw several 
some years since, near Swinhope, Lincolnshire. 
In Scotland, and also in various parts of Ireland, it is 
met with, and in some winters has been seen in very large 
flocks in different counties. The character of the season 
seems to be the cause that regulates its movements, at least 
in any numbers. In severe ones, very many have accordingly 
been discovered in places where few, if any, had ever been 
seen before. A day or two before the very great snow-storm 
that occurred in the beginning of January, 1827, one of 
these birds alighted on the “Chieftain” steam-packet, on the 
passage between Liverpool and Belfast. 
In the Orkney Islands, the only instance of its being noted 
appears to be one which occurred at Lopness, in Sanday, 
May 19th., 1839. 
Its habitat is in the wild and mountainous districts, from 
whence its specific name, both scientific and vernacular. 
The Mountain Pinch is a migratory species, being with 
us as a winter visitor only. The dates of its appearance are 
irregular, varying probably according to the state of the 
weather in the countries from which they have migrated. 
Bewick mentions their having been seen on the hills in the 
county of Cumberland, so early as the middle of August; 
but it is at least possible that these might have been birds 
which had been bred in that county the same summer, for 
it would appear that some may do so, coupling the fact 
just stated with the circumstance mentioned in 'London's 
Magazine of Natural Plistory,’ for the year 1835, that on 
the 6th. of May in that year, one was shot in a fir plantation 
about four miles east of York. Meyer also records two or 
three instances in which he believed that he saw the species 
in summer. The usual time however of its arrival in Scotland 
is the end of the month of October, or beginning of November; 
the former being the date in the northern parts, the latter 
in the more southern. In mild winters few, if any, advance 
into England; while in severe weather they are driven forwards 
in great numbers. They depart again in March. 
These birds go in flocks in winter, and Pennant mentions 
that he received eighteen from Kent, which had been all 
killed at one shot. Sometimes they are observed mixed with 
