CHAPTER XLIV 



Goldfinches Bird-catchers Dippers' nests Big Stone Pool The Swallow- 

 ing Stone Superstitions Diving power of Dippers Harmlessness of 

 A " Good little heart." 



ROUND about Plas-in-Cwm-Cynllwyd, and some of the 

 neighbouring Almshouse farms, several pairs of Goldfinches 

 breed, appearing always to favour the older settlements in 

 preference to newer gardens, and inclosures, where these 

 have been made. In the main valley, the same thing is 

 noticeable, as though the birds had a respect for old 

 associations. Up the Llafar valley, nests are perhaps more 

 numerous than anywhere else ; but, taken as a whole, there 

 are not many districts where the Penge, Nicol, or Peneuryn? 

 as the Goldfinch is commonly called here, is more common 

 than in the neighbourhood of Llanuwchllyn. In autumn, 

 quite large flocks may often be met with, feeding on the 

 heads of thistles, knapweed, and other weeds, which are only 

 too plentiful in many of the fields ; and a charming sight it 

 is, too, to see perhaps half a dozen of these birds, in all 

 sorts of attitudes, on a single plant, or flitting, in little 

 constantly twittering bands, from one to another. Most of 

 them leave before the approach of winter ; but on any fine 

 day up to the end of October, or even later, one or two old 

 cocks, by this time recovered from the moult, may be heard 

 in full song in the trees about the village. They get into 

 song very quickly in autumn, and sing from August 

 onwards, almost better than they do in spring, when they 

 generally reappear, in pairs, in March and April. The first 

 young are fledged by the end of May. 



So many Goldfinches, and the demand there always is for 



1 Peneuryn=gold head; other names are Gwas-y-Seire, Sheriff s officer, 

 and PobliW) a parti -coloured bird. 



377 



