70 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



its feathered neighbours. Mr. Thomas Garnett {Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., 1822), in remarking on birds understanding 

 each others' notes of woe, relates how he made a fledged 

 young Thrush cry out, and how, following the parents' 

 alarm-shriek, he heard the Blackbird, Chaffinch, Tit- 

 Lark, Eedbreast, Oxeye, Blue and Marsh-Tits, Wren, 

 and Goldcrest ; the Creeper alone seeming neither to 

 understand nor care. The Chaffinch lays its five eggs 

 from early May to early June. 



BEAMBLING. 



Fringilla montifringilla, Linnaeus. 



A winter visitor, irregular in its appearance, and very 

 much more numerous some years than others. The 

 stubble-fields of the Fylde and other similar localities 

 along the coast are its favourite haunt, and it is only 

 occasionally noticed in the more inland districts. Mr. 

 Hugh P. Hornby says that before the hard winters 

 ending with that of 1880 it used to appear in large 

 flocks near St. Michael's-on-Wyre, but that since then 

 it has not been seen. On the Formby shore Mr. C. S. 

 Gregson has found it very plentiful some winters, 

 usually moving about a good deal, and not staying long 

 at one place. It remains from the end of October to 

 the beginning of April. 



