h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Looks to me like a chaffinch! A very pretty little bird from Europe, Asia and North Africa. Very interesting for what happened with it here in South Africa. Some English folks were trying to make South Africa more British and introduced a bunch of birds here, the Chaffinch being one. It was introduced to the Cape Town area. Well that happened over a century ago, and in the meantime … the chaffinch colony has remained in exactly the same place. Despite being able to fly, the finches never moved any further. It's the only example in South Africa of a bird species being introduced, and *neither* going extinct, *nor* flourishing so much that it expands its range into most of the country.

It was so British, it was too polite to move.

Thank you for this information. Willem -> the opposite of Suzie Q Ferguson.

I thought it might be a goldfinch.

There was a book by that name, that was very trendy at the time.

There's no similar book called the Chaffinch. I am grateful not to have to feel I need to read it.