54 BIRDS OP THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 



on several occasions large flocks of adults in the 

 marshes as late as the first week in June, feeding on 

 the seeds of the groundsel. 



90. CARDUELIS ELEGANS, Stephens. Goldfinch. 



Provincial. Redcap. 



This elegant and favourite little bird is by no means 

 common with us, excepting in the autumn, when 

 small family parties of six or seven together are 

 found on the road-sides and on waste land, feeding 

 on the seeds of the thistle, ragwort, &c., but even 

 at this season are now not nearly as common as in 

 former years; their decrease in this highly farmed 

 district may easily be accounted for by the de- 

 struction of those weeds whose seeds afford their 

 usual food. 



91. CARDUELIS SPINUS (Linnaeus) . Siskin. 



Extremely rare. Some years since, in the autumn, 

 I saw a small flock amongst some alders growing in a 

 swampy patch near the Cotes " beck; " this is the only 

 occasion I have met with any in this county. They 

 are equally rare in Holderness. Mr. Boulton saw one, 

 a female, shot from a flock of four, near Beverley, by 

 Mr. Joseph Boyes in October 1866. He has only 

 seen two other specimens of the Siskin in that neigh- 

 bourhood. 



