62 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



Hodgkinson avers that there used to be a nest in every 

 orchard near Grange, and that in the Preston district 

 also there were plenty of birds ; he saw four or five 

 among some thistles near the latter place on the 5th of 

 October, 1882. About Liverpool Mr. J. F. Brockholes 

 (1859) recorded it as scarce, but that he had several 

 times seen the nest, in sycamore-trees, near the ex- 

 tremity of a slender branch. Mr. John Weld says that 

 it breeds at Chipping, visiting the place occasionally, 

 and that a flock of twenty or more was seen there feed- 

 ing on dock seeds on the 16th of December, 1882. Mr. 

 E. Standen sometimes sees small flocks among the 

 thistles in autumn near Goosnargh. Mr. John Hardy 

 informs me that in the neighbourhood of Manchester it 

 is not nearly so common as it was twenty-five years ago, 

 either near the city or in more retired places, but it 

 occurs still, and nests regularly in orchards and gardens. 

 It is very rare now in the Wyre valley, and Mr. Hugh 

 P. Hornby has only once seen a bird of late, namely in 

 August 1874, near Poulton-le-Fylde : in the same year, 

 in May, Mr. J. E. Palmer writes me that he saw a pair 

 near Todmorden, and thought it probable they were 

 nesting. In Furness the Goldfinch is reported by Mr. 

 W. A. Durnford to be resident in small numbers, and 

 Dr. C. A. Parker says that it still breeds on the Cum- 

 berland border, though getting rarer and rarer. 



[" In the spring of 1887 four young Goldfinches were 

 taken from a nest in the garden at Pleasington Hall, 

 within two miles of Blackburn, and one of these birds 

 was living on January Brd, 1889. This is the most recent 

 instance I have of the breeding of the Goldfinch in this 

 neighbourhood. Every winter small flocks are seen in 

 the Kibble valley."— K. J. H.] 



