PASSERES. { 148 ) FRINGILLID^. 



THE GOLDFINCH. 



GOLDSPINK, GOUDSPINK, GOLDIE. 



Garduelis elegans. 



About an bank with balmy bewis 



With gallant Goldspinks gay. 

 The Mavis, Merle, and Prog?ie pro7id. 

 The Lintqtehyt, Lark, and Lavrock loud, 



Salutit mirthful May. 



Alex. Montgomery, The Cherrie an'' the Slae, 

 1567-1603. 



In former times, when thistles, burdocks, and other weeds 

 were much more abundant in the county than they are at 

 present, the Goldfinch was frequently seen in small flocks 

 feeding on their seeds, but now it is a comparatively rare 

 bird. 



Mr. Hardy mentions that about 1793, when his father 

 was a boy, great numbers frequented the top of the sea- 

 banks at Oldcambus, where they fed on the seeds of the 

 burdock that used to be very abundant there.^ He has also 

 informed me that they were said to have been numerous 

 long ago about Butterdean Mill and Oldcambus West Mains, 



1 Boys in some districts of the county repeat tlie following rhyme : — 



A Blackie and a Blackbird, 

 A Laverock and a Lark, 

 A Goldie and a Goldspink, 

 How many birds is that ? 



2 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. vii. pp. 296, 297. 



