BIRDS 



Hinckley, where the bird was sitting on five eggs, 

 2 June, 1891. Mr. G. H. Frisby writes 25 July, 

 1 906 : ' I saw two young birds (two others escaped) 

 caged, the old bird had nested in an apple tree at 

 Col. Curzon's, Woodhouse.' 



Mr. W. J. Horn, writing in 1907, says also that he 

 had heard on good authority that two or three pairs 

 nested in an orchard at Lubenham in 1905. He 

 gives the following records : 14 March, 1895, three 

 birds seen at Croft ; I Jan., 1897, one seen at Market 

 Harborough ; 12 April, 1895, one seen near Bur- 

 bage ; 4 March, 1902, a pair seen in the Park, 

 Market Harborough ; 21 March, 1896, one seen at 

 Monk's Kirby; 10 March, 1902, a pair seen in the 

 park, Market Harborough. 



52. Goldfinch. Carduelis elegans, Stephens. 



Locally, Draw-water, Proud Tailer, or Tailor, 



Thistle-Finch. 



Resident, but sparingly distributed. Mr. Ingram 

 wrote that it ' builds in apple-trees ; two or three pairs 

 generally in the gardens of Belvoir Castle." Mr. T. B. 

 Ellis of 'The Gynsils' writes : 'In one or two apple- 

 orchards I know it builds regularly.' Mr. J. S. Ellis tells 

 me that up to 1863, when he left Glenfield Lodge, 

 a nest or two were found every year in the orchard, 

 and always built in a fork at the top of an apple-tree. 

 A specimen was shot by Mr. G. R. Brook at Whet- 

 stone in 1898. Mr. W. J. Horn, writing in 1907, 

 says : ' Nests in Market Harborough. I found the 

 nest in the hedge of our cricket ground.' He adds the 

 following records : 12 March, 1904, three specimens 

 seen on canal bank ; 26 June, 1 904, seen at Lubenham ; 

 14 April, 1905, seen at Nevill Holt and a dozen 

 other places. By this it appears that the bird is 

 commoner in some parts of the county than others, 

 and Mr. H. S. Davenport, writing from Melton 

 Mowbray in 1906, considers it much more common 

 than formerly, as also does Mr. H. Butler Johnson, in 

 the vicinity of Swannington. 



53. Siskin. Carduelis spinus (Linn.). 

 Locally, Aberdevine. 



An uncommon winter visitant, not breeding in the 

 Midlands. Mr. Babington mentioned it (Potter, op. 

 cit. App. p. 67) as having been observed in flocks at 

 Thringstone and Rothley Temple, among alders, 

 during 1837. Harley once met with a vast com- 

 pany of siskins (some 400 or 500), in the northern 

 division of the county, among large alder-trees beside 

 a stream at the lower end of Oakley Wood. In the 

 autumn of 1 849 the species was frequently met 

 with, but has not appeared since in such numbers in 

 any part of the county. The late Dr. Macaulay 

 (Mid. Nat. 1883, p. 86) saw a flock of about twenty 

 in a lane near Gumley on 15 Nov., 1882. Of the 

 specimens in the museum, one was taken at Thur- 

 caston in 1881, two (male and female) were taken 

 at Kirby Muxloe, 1 1 Dec., 1885, and three (two 

 males and one female) were shot at Belvoir on 14 Jan., 

 1886. 



54. House-Sparrow. Passer domestlcus (Linn.). 



Locally, Thack (or Thatch)-Sparrow. 

 Resident and far too common, breeding every- 

 where ; variable as to plumage, colour and size of 



eggs 



The Mid. Nat. of Aug., 1881, contains an account 



of some sparrows which were seen at Overseal feed- 

 ing a canary that had escaped from its cage. 



On 6 Jan., 1890, I shot on the Aylestone Road, 

 Leicester, a female variety, chestnut and white, and 

 another, presented to the museum, was shot at East- 

 field, Stoneygate, 30 Sept., 1890. As showing the 

 extreme variability of the eggs of this pest, the 

 writer has procured from the ivy covering his house 

 at Whetstone, clutches of five fours, three threes, 

 five twos and one, all taken in one day, 15 June, 

 1903, and no two clutches were alike in colour 

 varying from reddish brown to almost white. A 

 curious grey variety shot on the New Estate at 

 Cosby was presented to the museum by Mr. McCart- 

 ney on 15 June, 1903. 



55. Tree-Sparrow. Passer montanus (Linn.). 



Locally, Mountain-Sparrow, Wood Sparrow. 



Resident, but sparingly distributed over the wood- 

 lands. Mr. Davenport shot one at Skeffington in 

 Dec., 1876. Mr. H. Ellis shot one at Glenfield on 

 29 Dec., 1 88 1. The late Mr. R. Widdowson sent 

 me one from Melton Mowbray. I killed one (a 

 female) at Blaby, 25 March, 1884, and others con- 

 sorting with chaffinches and greenfinches in snowy 

 weather at Knighton, 14 Jan., 1885. 



A male shot at Melton Mowbray was presented to 

 the museum on 10 Feb., 1894, and two males and 

 one female shot at Whetstone were presented by 

 Mr. L. E. Gill in 1899. 



Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1 907 : ' Several pairs 

 nest in the pollard willows where I have found the 

 nest, 10 March, 1894. I saw a flock of over fifty 

 feeding in Mr. Kendall's stackyard close to Croft 

 Quarry, 17 April, 1900." 



56. Chaffinch. Fringilla caekbs, Linn. 



Locally, Pink or Spink, Pye-Finch, Pie-Finch. 



Resident and common, breeding in gardens and 

 plantations close to Leicester. With regard to the 

 flocking of hen chaffinches in the autumn, as narrated 

 by Gilbert White, Harley believed that writer to be in 

 error, as the birds might be immature individuals of the 

 year and not females. In confirmation of this theory 

 I have shot many, and found the apparent females to 

 be, as suspected, immature specimens of both sexes. 

 Mr. Ingram wrote from Belvoir that they flock there 

 ' in thousands, and are useful in destroying the seeds 

 of weeds." The eggs vary : Mr. Davenport notes 

 ' an extraordinary pale-green, elongated egg, taken at 

 Skeffington in May, 1 879,' also a clutch of five, shaped 

 like a snipe's and of the colour of a starling's eggs, and 

 two clutches of a delicate pale-blue entirely unspotted; 

 and Mr. W. A. Vice presented to the museum on 

 9 May, 1885, a nest containing five eggs of this de- 

 scription, taken by him at Blaby. The Rev. G. T. 

 Armitage wrote on 21 Nov., 1892 : 'About a fort- 

 night ago one of our farmers shot a white chaffinch, 

 which I am having stuffed.' A female variety, appa- 

 rently a hybrid with a (?) greenfinch, from Tugby, 

 was given to the museum by the Rev. Hugh Parry on 

 4 Jan., 1895. Mr. G. Frisby writes, 26 July, 1906: 

 ' A chaffinch was sitting on eggs, using the same nest 

 the second time ; both broods were reared.' 



57. Brambling. Fringilla montifringilla, Linn. 



Locally, Mountain Finch, French Pye or Pie. 

 A winter visitant, sparingly distributed, and though 

 often found in flocks, does not remain to breed in 



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