462 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Swallow, sometimes suffers much from the inclemency of the 
season on its first arrival. I saw a pure white example this 
summer (1885) in the hands of Elkington for preservation. 
Cotile riparia, Linn. Sand Martin. — A summer migrant, 
commonly distributed, and breeding as close to Leicester as the 
Aylestone sand-pits. 
Fam. CERTHUDZ. 
Certhia familiaris, Linn. Tree Creeper.—Resident, generally 
distributed, and breeding. Mr. Davenport finds the nest and 
eggs every year, and Mr. Ingram showed me one containing 
young in June, 1884, built behind the loose bark of a tree at 
Belvoir. Inthe MS. Donation Book, Leicester Town Museum, 
I find the following entry:—‘‘ Remains of nest of Creeper 
(Certhia familiaris), with ten eggs, found embedded in the solid 
trunk of an old elm tree containing nearly 150 ft. of timber, 
together with the two slabs of wood, showing the cavity in which 
they were deposited without any opening to the exterior.— 
Presented by Mr. Gimson, Saw Mills, Welford Road, May 7th, 
1852.” 
Fam. FRINGILLIDZ. 
Carduelis elegans, Stephens. Goldfinch (“ Thistle Finch,” 
“Tailor,” “Proud Tailor.”’)—Resident and sparingly distributed. 
Probably no small bird has suffered more from cultivation and 
the enclosure of what are termed waste lands than the Goldfinch. 
Birdecatchers also have helped to make it scarce. Elkington 
receives it in small numbers in the autumn from birdcatchers 
from the vicinity of Leicester. Mr. Ingram writes that it “ builds 
in apple trees ; two or three pairs generally in the garden.” Mr. 
T. B. Ellis, of the Gynsills, writes, ‘In one or two apple-orchards 
I know it builds regularly.” Mr. J. 8. Ellis tells me that up to 
1863, when he left Glenfield Lodge, there was always a nest or 
two to be found every year in the orchard, and always built ina 
fork at the top of an apple tree. 
Chrysomitris spinus, Linn. Siskin (‘‘ Aberdevine”).—A rare 
winter visitant. In Potter’s ‘ History of Charnwood Forest’ it is 
noticed as having been observed in flocks at Thringstone and 
Rothley Temple, among alders, during 1837. Harley some years 
since fell in with a vast company of Siskins (some 400 or 500), in 
the northern division of the county, amoug large alder trees beside ~ 
