BIRDS 
numerous during their migratory movements, 
As many as twenty dozen have been taken by 
one pair of nets in a morning on the Dun- 
stable downs. The greatest number of birds 
is taken during sleety weather. They tell me 
that when one man works the nets and 
another drives the flocks of birds in the 
required direction as many as fifty dozen birds 
of various kinds have been taken by two men 
working two pairs of nets. For the linnet 
decoy or call-bird a mule goldfinch-canary 
trained with the linnet’s note is preferred. 
White, buff and pied varieties have often been 
taken. 
60. Mealy Redpoll. Linota linaria (Linn.) 
There is little reason to doubt the occur- 
rence of this arctic form of our commoner 
species within the county during some winters. 
At present the only information I have been 
able to gather was given to me by a bird- 
catcher living at Clifton, who, to my know- 
ledge, is a very trustworthy man. He said 
the common redpoll was particularly common 
in 1894, frequenting the numerous alder trees 
that grow along the sides of the Ivel, between 
Chicksands and Stanford, where during the 
autumn of that year he secured within a few 
hours one morning no less than fifty-four of 
the commoner species. It was during the 
same winter when redpolls were exceptionally 
numerous that he caught two mealy redpolls 
along with others from the same locality. 
Four or five altogether have been taken by 
him from the same district. 
61. Lesser Redpoll. Linota rufescens (Vieillot) 
The lesser redpoll is a well known winter 
migrant, occurring generally in small flights 
of a dozen or more. As a nesting species I 
am inclined to think that it is becoming more 
common, for previous to the year 1894 I have 
only been able to obtain information respect- 
ing one instance of its nesting. ‘This was a 
nest found by Mr. King at Clifton about 1870, 
which contained young. During 1894 Mr. 
King kindly forwarded me two nests with 
eggs, both of which he had found in the 
neighbourhood between Langford and Biggles- 
wade. Since then to my personal knowledge 
one pair at least has continued to nest in the 
same locality. Mr. Crossman also sent me 
word that he had found a nest containing six 
eggs of this species on 10 June 1899 in 
the old ballast hole along the railway between 
Bedford and Cardington; on the same day 
another nest with five eggs was found by a 
lad. Both of these nests were built in willow 
trees. In July 1898, I sawa pair of old birds 
with young between Shefford and Clifton, and 
T 113 
in 1903 two pairs nesting near Southill Lake. 
A white variety of this species was taken near 
Luton in 1894. 
62. Twite. Linota flavirostris (Linn.) 
A winter migrant, occurring more particu- 
larly during the autumn. Throughout the 
county generally a few whilst accompanying 
the flights of linnets seem to be taken by the 
bird-catchers every year, and in the neigh- 
bourhood of the chalk hills in the south of 
the county it is I believe a fairly common 
bird. 
63. Bullfinch. Pyrrhula europea, Vieillot. 
Fairly common ; in the winter migratory 
arrivals seem to add to the numbers of our 
resident birds, and it is then this bird becomes 
more conspicuous, as it can be seen haunting 
the wayside hedgerows, feeding upon the dock 
and various other seeds and hedge fruit, with 
a particular weakness for the berries of the 
privet. Unlike any of the other finches, 
seldom more than a pair, or at the most a 
small party of four or five, will be found 
together. 
64. Crossbill. Loxia curvirostra, Linn. 
Flights of the common crossbill varying in 
numbers may I think be considered now of 
regular winter occurrence, but owing to their 
quiet and inconspicuous habits numbers of the 
birds might frequent a locality for perhaps 
many years without coming under observation. 
And I do not think their numbers vary at all 
with the severity of the weather, for in several 
of the past mild winters they have been as 
numerous as in any other years. In their 
regular haunts, as for instance the fir planta- 
tions of Ampthill, Woburn, Southill, Rowney 
Warren and Sandy, records of their occurrence 
are far too numerous for me to give in detail; 
sometimes they have been noticed in small 
parties, and at other times in much larger 
numbers. A flight observed at Woburn 23 
October 1897 contained upwards of fifty 
birds, and in the winter 1898-9 at Rowney 
Warren I understand they were very numer- 
ous.? 
65. Two-barred Crossbill. 
(Brehm) 
A flock of about twenty of these birds was 
found haunting one of the fir plantations at 
Ampthill on 3 January 1890, from which 
five were secured with the aid of catapults ; 
Loxia bifasciata 
1 The nesting of this species in our county as 
recorded in Science Gossip, 1868, is incorrect ; both 
nest and eggs have since come into my possession 
and are certainly proved not to be of this species. 
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