36 A. F. CilOSSMAN — NOTES ON lilJlDS 



Hawfinch ( CoccofJrrmistes indgaris). — The hawfinch was decidedly 

 plentiful in the neighbourhood of Berkhamsted in 1897. I seldom 

 went out without seeing one or more of them. I also saw it in 

 April at Cokenach, near Royston. Mr. Lucas tells me that he 

 heard of two instances of this bird nesting at Ippolytts, near 

 Hitchin ; and Mr. A. W. Dickinson, of ^iew Farm, St. Albans, 

 states that for the last three years hawfinches have frequently come 

 to feed under the cherry-trees at that place. 



Goldfinch ( Carduelis elegans). — Mr. Lucas tells me that he saw 

 a pair of these birds on Oughton Head Common on several 

 occasions in 1897. Mr. H. S. Rivers, in March, saw a pair of 

 goldfinches in his garden at Sawbridgeworth, and on May 29th 

 found a nest with three eggs in an apple-tree there. The birds 

 finally disappeared from the locality on September 19th. Mr. A. "W". 

 Dickinson informs me that he saw some of these birds on 

 Bernard's Heath in October last. He thinks that steps should 

 be taken to secure a close time for goldfinches all the year round 

 for a time, as at the rate birdcatchers now take them these birds 

 stand a fair chance of being exterminated. This would possibly 

 be a good plan and might do something towards helping these 

 beautiful birds, but it is not only the birdcatchers that are causing 

 a decrease in their numbers. Goldfinches are always more plentiful 

 in a badly cultivated country, where there are plenty of thistles 

 and other plants of a similar nature, and one would hardly wish 

 that Hertfordshire should be left uncultivated in order that various 

 sorts of birds which have vanished or are vanishing from the 

 county fauna should be restored to it. However much one may 

 love birds, it might as well be suggested that the water should 

 be let into the Fen country again in order that the former denizens 

 of the Fens might once more nest there. Although much harm 

 may have been done by birdcatching and collecting, neither of 

 these causes can be compared with agriculture for having decreased 

 our fauna. One must, however, remember that although certain 

 birds which were abundant in former times have disappeared, 

 on the other hand we have now many sorts which in those days 

 were scarcely known here at all. 



Siskin ( Chrysoniitris spinus). — Mr. Rivers saw ten of these birds 

 at Sawbridgeworth on the 9th of March. They were on an elm- 

 tree, and were busily feeding about the flowers. Although I seldom 

 receive reports of the occurrence of the siskin in Hertfordshire, 

 no doubt it occurs regulai-ly every winter in varying numbers. 



Brambling {Fringilla montifringilla). — About the middle of 

 December I saw every morning thousands of these birds passing 

 in a southerly direction over Berkhamsted. They commenced 

 passing in immense flocks, and then small parties kept on going 

 for the space of about half-an-hour. These birds were most 

 probably roosting in some wood in the neighbourhood, and 

 every morning went out to feed under the beech-trees round 

 Berkhamsted. In 1895 I saw a vast concourse of these birds on 

 several occasions in Ashridgc Park. ' 



