74 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
this district. As darkness fell I still watched this vast 
army of migrants in steady flight high above the river.’ 
Sand Martins nest in colonies, usually excavating 
their holes in the banks of streams or in sand or gravel 
pits, but the birds sometimes utilise the softer strata of 
the red sandstone rock in quarries and railway cuttings. 
Mr. R. Newstead states that about sixty pairs took 
possession of such a situation in 1892 in the Ship 
Canal cutting at Ince! The depth of the hole varies, 
without apparent relation to the geological formation. 
In the alluvium of the Mersey banks, near Sale, we have 
seen nests only four inches from the mouth of the hole, 
whilst others near to them were beyond arm’s reach. 
Whilst the birds are excavating, they roost in the 
unfinished tunnels, from which we have taken them 
at night. In severe weather the birds sometimes take 
refuge in the nesting-holes. In the cold spring of 1886, 
which was as fatal to this species as to the Swallow 
and House Martin, Oldham took the remains of fifteen 
birds and some broken egg-shells from a single hole in 
the bank of the Mersey at Sale.” 
FAMILY FRINGILLID.—SUB-FAMILY FRINGILLIN &. 
GREENFINCH. 
LIGURINUS CHLORIS (Linnzeus). 
Green Linnet. 
From spring to autumn the Greenfinch abounds in 
the lowlands, and is found at a considerable elevation 
on the Hills, provided there are thorn hedges or bushes 
in which its nest may be placed. SBrockholes only 
occasionally observed a flock in Wirral during the 
1 Dobie, op. cit, p. 296. 2 Naturalist, 1886, p. 214. 
