A HISTORY OF 
bers of late years. Nowadays in any locality 
in our county, whenever carefully sought for, 
it will undoubtedly be found. At Southill I 
cannot call to mind ever visiting the park 
without observing this bird more or less freely, 
and in at least five instances have found its 
nest also, Mr. A. Covington also informs 
me that in 1893 he had three nests, each 
containing six eggs, brought to his notice, all 
taken from an orchard in the vicinity of that 
park. Mr. J. King speaks of them as fairly 
plentiful at Southill previous to 1844. In 
Bromham Park four nests were found, one of 
which, on 21 May 1893, contained six young. 
At Flitwick, Ampthill, Luton Hoo, Silsoe, 
Great Barford, Chicksands Priory, Woburn 
and Turvey it breeds also, and I have 
observed it in numerous other localities. 
53- Goldfinch. Carduelis elegans, Stephens. 
Before the passing of the Wild Birds Pro- 
tection Acts of 1880 and 1881 the goldfinch, 
owing to the constant persecution of bird- 
catchers, was fast verging on extinction. 
Now its numbers seem again rapidly on the 
increase. In the cottage gardens and orchards, 
particularly around the neighbourhood of 
Bromham and also at Colmworth I have 
found it of late years quite commonly. But 
at present in many other districts where it 
was once common it does not seem as yet to 
have re-established itself. 
54. Siskin. Carduelis spinus (Linn.) 
An irregular winter migrant. Its numbers 
vary considerably and its occurrence is not 
frequent. ‘Their favourite haunts with us 
are larch and alder trees, where they are likely 
to be found innumbers.* A flock of 70 or 80 
siskins was feeding on the larches in Rowney 
Warren on 1 April 1902. 
55. House-Sparrow. Passer domesticus (Linn.) 
When corn was considerably more valuable 
than in present years, ‘ sparrow clubs’ existed 
to keep this bird as much as possible in check. 
In certain parts of our county many of the 
country people used to term this bird the 
‘ theck sparrow,’ or, to be more literal, ‘thatch 
sparrow,” deriving the prefix from the serious 
damage done to thatched buildings, in which 
they so freely made holes for nesting purposes. 
Now that corn is of less consideration, 
thatched dwellings far less numerous, and 
sparrow clubs few and far between, sparrows 
1 The reported nesting of the siskin ‘in Bed- 
fordshire ’ (Zoolgist, 1880) is an error. It should 
have been reported as ‘in Buckinghamshire.’ 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
have undoubtedly increased, and are more 
often than not left to their depredations. 
56. Tree-Sparrow. Passer montanus (Linn.) 
An abundant resident, gregarious, but with 
a decided preference for its own species. Pro- 
bably its unobtrusive habits and its similarity 
in plumage to the house-sparrow cause it to 
be oyerlooked by the casual observer. For 
nesting, usually holes in trees, in the vicinity 
of water, are chosen, more particularly in the 
pollard willows, which are so common along 
all our streams, I have found a nest in the 
thatch of outbuildings; in another instance 
two nests were placed in some drain pipes 
built into a wall alongside Cople Brook, and, 
again, a nest containing the very unusual 
number of seven eggs I took out of one of the 
wooden bridges spanning the New Cut at 
Newnham. Occasionally it has been found 
building inside old magpies’ nests. 
57. Chaffinch. 
A very familiar species and generally dis- 
tributed; gregarious with numerous other 
birds throughout the greater part of the year. 
When flights of the brambling are observed 
it will be noticed that the company of the 
chaffinch seems almost indispensable to them. 
Pied, buff coloured and albino specimens have 
occasionally been obtained. 
Fringilla celebs, Linn. 
58. Brambling. Fringilla montifringilla, Linn. 
One of our migratory finches, occurring 
only during the winter months. Its num- 
bers greatly vary according to the severity 
of the weather. In some winters great num- 
bers are seen in Woburn Park, which they 
frequent to feed upon the beech mast there. 
Mr. J. King has observed them in flocks 
feeding under the beech trees in Southill 
Park. My father has also seen this bird in 
great numbers at Muggerhanger, and I have 
met with them very commonly at Chicksands 
Park. In favourable seasons, from November 
to the end of February or early March, the 
brambling is taken very freely, occasionally in 
hundreds, by the bird-catchers in the southern 
portion of the county, mixed with the flights 
of chaffinches, linnets, greenfinches, and other 
birds. Mr. A. Covington has informed me 
that he once had over forty of these birds sent 
to him, which had been killed at one shot 
‘when about to roost in some evergreens, 
59. Linnet. Linota cannabina (Linn.) 
Locally, Brown Linnet, Red Linnet. 
A widely distributed resident. From in- 
formation obtained from bird-catchers I learn 
that they must at certain times become very 
112 
