22



Mr. J. Lewis Bonhote,



than it was some twenty or thirty years ago. On the bird-

catchers the sole blame for this scarceness has been laid, and

although, especially near large towns, they have undoubtedly

made a difference to the numbers of this charming bird, yet the

higher conditions of farming and the ever diminishing area of

waste land have probably had a far greater influence on this

scarcity.


Wherever suitable wild pasture laud, well overgrown with

thistles occurs there will be found the Goldfinch in very fair

numbers, darting from thistle-head to thistle-head with golden

gleam, a veritable jewel of nature. During the breeding season

it is generally to be found in small woods or copses and orchards,

returning regularly year after year to the same spot, and some¬

times even repairing the old nest. Two broods are often reared

in a season, and as soon as the second brood has left the nest the

whole family takes flight to the open pastures.


Tame and confiding at all times, the young when they

first leave the nest fall an easy prey to the wiles of the bird-

catcher, who at such times is generally able to capture the whole

family ; but should the parents have their suspicions aroused in

any way, although both old and young may remain near the

nets for some considerable time, they will in all probability

never be caught, and will, into the bargain, warn off any other

families that may be passing.


Fabulous numbers of these birds used to be caught along

the South Coast about half a century ago and, according to

a correspondent in the Zoologist i860 p. 7,144, no less than

1,154 dozens were sent to London from the neighbourhood of

Worthing in the course of a single year. It must, however, be

borne in mind that over 1,000 of these dozens were caught on

migration in October and November, and consequently these

numbers, large as they are, could not have affected our home¬

grown birds to any great extent. Last year, at Mr. Harvie

Brown’s suggestion, many notes relating to the present status of

the Goldfinch in England were published in the Zoologist , and

afforded on the whole pleasant reading, for the majority of the

correspondents agreed that the protection laws had caused an



