THE GOLDFINCH. 149 



and that he saw a small flock at Penmanshiel during a 

 snow-storm towards the end of December 1834. Mr. John 

 Wilson, late of Edington Mains, has told me that between 

 1820 and 1830 he used to see considerable numbers about 

 the tall trees on that farm. Mr. W. Duns, builder, Duns, 

 states that when the castle was being built there in 1821, 

 a Goldfinch nested in a big plane-tree near its site, and that 

 they were so plentiful at that time in the neighbour- 

 hood that some men about Duns made their living by 

 catching them with bird-lime between harvest and spring, 

 and selling them as cage-birds. He remembers that an 

 English bird-catcher who then lived in Duns, and who was 

 known by the " nickname " of " Bird Jock," caught great 

 numbers of them, and had sometimes as many as thirty 

 or forty in his house at one time. Mr. John Aitchison, 

 plasterer. Duns, says that long ago Crunkley was a great 

 resort of " Goldies," for " mother of earth," or chickweed 

 (Stellaria media) grew there plentifully ; also that Buxley 

 Dean, between Manderston and Manderston Mill, was much 

 frequented by these birds, for it abounded with thistles, 

 horse-knots (Centaurea nigra), and other weeds. Mr. Peter 

 Scott, Lauder, relates that Goldfinches were common in 

 Lauderdale about forty-five years ago, and that their nests 

 were sometimes found about that time in the grounds of 

 Thirlestane Castle. The rocky deans near the sea-coast at 

 Lamberton are also said to have been frequented by " Goldies " 

 in former times, and they were likewise found about Fairney- 

 side. Mr. Hardy records that a flock of " this now rarely 

 seen bird " visited the neighbourhood of Cockburn Law about 

 the end of November 1874, and that, several years previous 

 to that time, he saw a flock near Oldcambus picking thistle 

 seeds.^ According to Mr. Kelly a flock of eighteen Gold- 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. vii. p. 296. 



