THE GOLDFINCH 
CARDUELIS ELEGANS 
LocaL names in surrounding counties : 
Srarus 1n British Avirauna: An increasingly local 
resident throughout England, Wales, and Ireland, becom- 
ing more so, and scarcer in Scotland. Its numbers are 
increased in autumn by migrants. 
RapriaLt DisTrRIBUTION. WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s : Asa nesting species the Goldfinch is decidedly a 
scarce and local bird, having been more or less exterminated 
in most localities. From all parts the reports of its rarity 
or decreasing numbers are made. ‘This to a very large 
extent is due to the persecution of bird-catchers, and it is 
to be hoped that the more stringent enforcement of the 
Wild Birds Protection Acts in the Metropolitan area will 
result in a much-to-be-desired increase in the number of 
Goldfinches. It is as a winter visitor that this Finch is best 
known within the more central portions of our radius. 
At that season it has, during recent years, been observed 
so close to the city as Kensington Gardens and Dulwich, 
whilst it is more frequently seen at Wimbledon, Norwood, 
Richmond, and Tooting. In the winter of 1904 I observed 
three Goldfinches amongst some withered docks and thistles 
on waste ground near Wormwood Scrubbs. ‘They were 
quite close to the road, fluttering unconcernedly from stem 
to stem, and were being enviously admired by a couple of 
passing working men, who volunteered the information that 
they were “ Finches,”’ a name by which the Goldfinch 1s 
commonly known amongst fanciers and catchers. Insome 
parts of Middlesex the species is said to be increasing. 
There is only one locality within the limits of Greater 
London, and that is on the north, known to me where the 
Goldfinch nestsinanynumbers. It would not be desirable 
to give greater details, beyond saying that in the year 1907 
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