VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 465 
Leicester Museum on May 9th, 1885, a nest containing a clutch 
of five eggs, entirely unspotted, and of a delicate pale blue, taken 
by him at Blaby. [See Zool. 1862, pp. 8091, 8161.—Ep. ] 
Fringilla montifringilla, Linn. Brambling (“‘ Mountain Finch.”) 
—A winter visitant; sparingly distributed, though sometimes 
found in flocks. A wounded bird obtained at Swannington, and 
kept some time in a cage, lost all its yellow and chestnut plumage 
and turned dark brown, after being fed on hemp-seed. Potter, 
who mentions this, refers to others obtained near Glenfield, Castle 
Donnington, and Coleorton. During the winter of 1843-4 it was 
very abundant, and great numbers were shot in various parts of 
the county. It appeared again in the winter of 1854-5. The 
MS. Donation Book, Leicester Museum, records one presented 
on March 29th, 1460, from Barkby Thorpe. Others have been 
obtained at Skeffington and at Thornton Reservoir. In the 
winter of 1884 they were unusually numerous in Leicestershire, 
and I received specimens in February and March from Sad- 
dington, and from a field on the Groby Road where corn was being 
winnowed, and to which the Bramblings resorted in hundreds. 
Linota cannabina, Linn. Linnet.— Resident and generally 
distributed. Harley occasionally found a nest on the lateral 
branch of an elm, some six or eight feet from the ground. I 
found a nest on June 13th, 1884, containing five eggs, now in the 
Museum, built in a magnolia trained on the wall of Belvoir Castle. 
Linota rufescens, Vieill. Lesser Redpoll.— Resident and 
sparingly distributed. Harley met with its nest and eggs in 
North Leicestershire, in a rough place known at that time by the 
name of “ Leake Lings.” ‘The nest was fixed in a thick gorse- . 
bush five or six feet from the ground; it was more compact than 
the nest of the Common Linnet, smaller, and more elegantly 
woven. Davenport found a nest with three eggs in May, 1883, at 
Ashlands; and, according to the late R. Widdowson, it often 
breeds about Melton. In June, 1883, a nest was found at Kib- 
worth, and another at Ansty on the 21st May last; both contained 
eggs. 
Linota flavirostris, Linn. ‘Twite. (‘‘ Mountain Linnet.”— 
Resident, but sparingly distributed. 
Pyrrhula europea, Vieill. Bullfinch.—Resident and generally 
distributed. Breeding at Belvoir, &c. 
Loxia pityopsittacus, Bechstein. Parrot Crossbill.— Rare. 
