84 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN, 



in hundreds one time o' day. You may go now for 

 a month and not get a glint o' one." I have asked 

 them the reason of this, and they have answered, 

 with a shake of their grey heads, " They grups up 

 the thistles" (with a forked thistle spud) "what the 

 birds live on, and flies in the face o' natur', to turn 

 it inter medder land more fools they fur their 

 trouble ! " I know that such is the case : a small 

 flock of goldfinches is a rare sight on a common in 

 these days. Their true home is where stone-heaps 

 and thistles are plentiful ; where the flintgetter's old 

 Flemish mare hangs her drowsy head, whilst the 

 sun is high, in the shade of some clump of bushes ; 

 where the sandman's donkey rolls, and rasps the 

 whole length and breadth of his tough hide on the 

 sandy road of the common. In any tract famous 

 for the growth of weed and tangle they lived and 

 multiplied. Such spots are hard to find now, and 

 the best place to look for goldfinches and siskins is 

 near London, some five or six miles beyond the postal 

 district, where the weeds thrive on land that has 

 been cleared for building purposes. There, amongst 

 stone-heaps and thistles, he still lives and breeds. 

 The bird-catchers, particularly those of the South 



