THE GOLDFINCH 



CARDUELIS ELEGANS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : 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. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : As a 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 1 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 is 

 commonly known amongst fanciers and catchers. In some 

 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 nests in any numbers. It would not be desirable 

 to give greater details, beyond saying that in the year 1907 

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