BULLFINCH. 193 



Wilsden district, to distinguish it from the Brown Linnet ; 

 Little Peewit, used in north Yorkshire, is evidently adopted 

 from its call note ; and Ling Linnet, in Ribblesdale, from 

 its frequenting the moorlands ; while Thorny Linnet was 

 stated by Pennant, 1798, to be its name in Yorkshire. 



BULLFINCH. 

 Pyrrhula europoea {Vieillot). 



Resident ; locally distributed, and not very numerous. Migrants 

 arrive in winter. 



The first Yorkshire mention of the Bullfinch was made 

 by Marmaduke Tunstall in 1786, thus : — " Loxia pyrrhula — 

 Bullfinch. Have had many Bullfinches black, and all the 

 intermediate colours between that, and the natural ones, 



being spotted with black, etc They are very plenty 



in the north of Yorkshire." (Tunst. MS. p. 65.) 



Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : — 



Pyrrhula vulgaris. — Bullfinch — Common in many parts ; not at 

 all common near Huddersfield ; R. Leyland says " Gardeners and bird 

 fanciers alike persecute this beautiful bird, and near Halifax it is 

 consequently becoming scarce." 



This handsome species is resident and generally distributed 

 where it it can find situations, such as gardens and woodland 

 localities, containing food suitable for its habits, but it is 

 becoming scarcer in most districts owing to the persecution 

 of bird catchers and the animosity of gardeners who resent 

 the damage done to fruit buds ; in the churchwardens' 

 accounts for the parish of Ecclesfield, near Sheffield, an entry 

 occurs proving that it was in bad repute in the sixteenth 

 century : " 1590, Item for VIJ bulspynke heades, VJd.," 

 and we learn by three old acts of Elizabeth's reign that power 

 was given to churchwardens to pay " for the head of every 

 bulfinsh or other bird that devoureth the blouthe of fruit — id." 

 In more recent times as many as three hundred were killed 

 in the " eighties " in one year at Grinkle, and near Harrogate 



VOL. I. o 



