66 
MOUNTAIN FINCH. 
such place is the only one in which they should be confined. 
The nest having been completed four days, the first egg was 
laid on the 16th. of June in the just-named year, and another 
was laid each day until the 21st., when they were removed. 
The nest was composed of moss, wool, and dry grass, and 
lined with hair; and these materials were selected from a 
variety which the birds had the option of making use of. 
The foundations, which were large, were worked in among 
the stalks of the ivy leaves. 
‘In the latter part of July, in the same year,’ says Mr. 
Dashwood, writing to Mr. Hewitson, ‘another pair of 
Bramblings built, placing their nest on the ground, close to 
a shrub or a tuft of grass. The outside of the nest was made 
of moss, and it was lined with hair. From this nest I 
removed four eggs on the 1st. of August. On the 17th. of 
June, 1840, they laid again, having built in the ivy. This 
nest I did not disturb, and although the eggs were hatched, 
they did not succeed in rearing the young ones.’ 
In the ‘Account of the Birds found in Norfolk,’ presently 
to be again referred to regarding our present subject, the 
authors mention the following instance, or rather instances, 
of these birds nesting in confinement, communicated to them 
by a gentleman residing near Norwich. A pair of Bramblings 
built a nest in an aviary in the last week of the month of 
June, 1842, and two eggs were laid, both of which were 
removed, and found to be good. In June, 1848, the same 
birds again nested, and the female laid two eggs, and these 
having been removed, they formed a second nest in a different 
spot, in which four eggs were deposited. The last nest, 
together with the eggs, was accidentally destroyed, and it 
was not ascertained whether the eggs laid during the year 
were good or not. 
The eggs are four or five in number, white, spotted with 
yellowish brown. 
Male; length, six inches and a quarter, to six and three 
quarters; the upper bill is dusky, the point bluish black; 
the under bill, dusky yellowish white, with the point bluish 
black: in the spring and summer it is extremely dark lead- 
coloured. Iris brown. Head on the crown and sides, neck 
on the back, and nape, in the winter, rich mottled grey and 
black, each feather being black at the base, and grey at the 
tip: in the spring these brown tips disappear, leaving the 
white of these parts of a fine velvet black, which the bird 
