57 



VII. 



SPARROWS AND OTHER FINCHES. 



Although I have never myself seen a gold- 

 finch in the garden, they have been seen here, 

 and on the rough ground near the Ship Canal 

 they are not uncommon, indeed, I have heard 

 of several shillings a week being made by 

 birds that have been caught there in spite of 

 County Council orders. They are usually 

 known here as " red linnets," but another 

 Cheshire name for them is " nickers." 



Greenfinches (green linnets in Cheshire) 

 abound; in early spring they are more than 

 usually conspicuous, as in their brightest 

 feather they pursue one another in and out 

 among the hollies and dark yew hedges. 

 Though then less evident to the eye, through- 

 out the summer they let us know by their 

 unmistakable and wearisome notes that they 

 are with us still. 



As early as April 29th, in 1890, I watched 

 a greenfinch on a thorn opposite my window 

 feeding what appeared to be a fully-fledged 

 young one. It was pumping up the food 

 from its craw, in the same way that a pigeon 

 does. The end of April is so unusually 

 early for a greenfinch family to have flown, 

 that perhaps it was only another instance of 

 delicate marital attention, such as I have 

 noticed in the case of robins and tits. 



