THE GOLDFINCH. 227 



orientalis of Pallas, who erroneously, as it would now appear, con- 

 sidered orientalis only a variety of Carduelis elegans. 



Canon Tristram found our own goldfinch sharing with the i i 

 titmouse the shelter of cypresses, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, It is 

 plentiful in Algeria. In Madeira it is still used as a " draw-water,' 

 on the testimony of a recent writer to the Field newspaper. In 

 Spain and Italy it is plentiful, as in Greece and the iEgean generally, 

 particularly during the winter months. Chiddington, our Oxford bird- 

 catcher, assures me that when quartered with his regiment in Corfu, 

 he used to catch a great many goldfinches, though there was very little 

 demand for them. In France and Germany it appears to be abundant ; 

 it was certainly one of the very few species that I could discover at 

 Fontainebleau, in 1873. In Denmark it is local. In Norway I searched 

 for it unsuccessfully, but have since seen a specimen from Christiansand. 

 As to Ireland, the goldfinch is certainly common in some districts, 

 because Irish goldfinches are supplied to Scotch and English markets. 

 In Scotland it has much decreased of late years ; partly from hard 

 winters, in which the goldfinches, failing to migrate, perished of 

 starvation, as suggested by Dr. Gray (" Birds of the West of Scotland") ; 

 partly because Glasgow and other town birdfanciers travel considerable 

 distances to catch a few goldies, even for their own use ; partly, as a 

 shrewd Dumfriesshire shepherd points out to me very strongly, owing 

 to the decrease of those " idle weeds," the seeds of which form the 

 subsistence of the goldfinch, before the steady progress of agriculture. 



The stronghold of the British goldfinch appears to me to be in 

 Wales, where a friend has seen them as plentiful as sparrows, and 

 whence an important portion of the goldfinches of Metropolitan 

 dealers are procured. Bolton, in his " Harmonia Ruralis," remarks on 

 the existence of a Welsh race of goldfinch, termed "Nicols." For my 

 own part, I have nowhere seen the goldfinch so abundant as on the 

 north coast of Devon and Somerset, between Minehead and Bide- 

 ford ; in this part of the country the goldfinch, as also the cirl bunting, 

 may often be observed perching on telegraph wires. In South Devon, 

 I have found the goldfinch fairly well represented, as also in Oxfordshire, 

 Kent, Surrey, Essex, Herts, Hants, and Berks. It probably breeds in 

 all our counties, except perhaps the counties nearest the Border. Mr. 

 Parsons, of Carlisle, tells me that it is decidedly rare in his neighbour- 

 hood, and similar testimony as to the Lake district is borne by an 

 excellent field naturalist. 



Everywhere the abundance of goldfinches is primarily correlative 

 to the abundance of food, though hawks and birdcatchers subsequently 

 may destroy the balance. If only the goldfinch had the hungry 

 appetite of Passer domesticus, which eats a cabbage white, or a 

 beautiful demoiselle dragon fly without compunction, it would, no 

 doubt, be able to hold its own much more satisfactorily. 



But we must pass on from distribution to courtship. — I have 

 already alluded to this in reference to the popular synonym of 

 Proud Tailor. The performance in question, when the male finch 



