In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 291 



neighbourhood. Champion has taken a good many at various times 

 in Longford Park, in the parish, and in 187G he trapped some nice 

 birds there, two of which I secured for my collection, being " parish- 

 ioners/' They are tame confiding little birds^ and occasionally will 

 come into the conservatory at Bishopstone Rectory, as Mr. E. Lear 

 informs me. I believe at times that some remain with us all the year, 

 and occasionally breed in the district. This is pretty well proved 

 by the following fact, i.e., that Champion, in 1871, when he was 

 catching young Linnets at Broadchalke, trapped seven Siskins, two 

 of which he told me were old birds, and the other five evidently 

 young ones. It was late in July when he caught them, and being 

 an unusual time o£ year to meet with them, he remembered the 

 circumstance as being worthy of note. I have heard also of their 

 being seen very late in the spring in the neighbouring parish of 

 Nunton, where one of the lads told me he thought he might be able 

 to find a nest of them, and I asked him to look out for further in- 

 formation about it. Champion's testimony, however, there is no 

 reason to dispute. 



Carduelis Elegans. " The Goldfinch." There is no land bird I 

 think that is benefitting more by the "Wild Bird Preservation Act 

 than this little gem of all the Finches. In more than one place I 

 have heard them spoken of as being more common than they used 

 to be, and I have noticed them myself more frequently than before. 

 Only once, however, have I seen a flock of some thirty or forty to- 

 gether, and that was many years ago, in Berkshire. There is no 

 doubt at all (as the Rev. A. C. Smith mentions in his papers on the 

 birds of Wilts) about there being two distinct species of these birds 

 recognized by our bird-catchers. On asking Champion if he thought 

 so, he said, " Yes, Sir, surely, every bird-catcher knows that — we 

 call the bigger sort ' Three-pound-tenners ' amongst ourselves, and 

 they are quite different from the others. You can distinguish them 

 readily by the largeness of the white spot on the end of the quill 

 feathers of the wing ; and also by their white throat, and the bigger 

 black crescent, which comes much further round the side of the 

 face, and they are of a more slender shape altogether than the others. 

 They are worth more because they will breed more readily with the 



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