Birds. 2491 



few thistles which have escaped the scythe and run to seed. The 

 seeds of this plant are here their principal support ; and I am pretty 

 sure, since a closer attention has been paid to mowing it before run- 

 ning to seed, that the goldfinch has decreased in numbers, the supply 

 of food being cut off. Towards the second week in April they appear 

 again in considerable numbers ; and I am convinced, from repeated 

 observation, that they then exceed those wintering here by ten to one. 

 Ten or twelve may be seen together. It might be argued that the 

 birds, which during the winter have dwelt apart from villages, now 

 draw nearer for the purpose of breeding, and so bring themselves 

 more constantly beneath the eye ; and this may in some measure be 

 true, but still I am quite sure that an accession of numbers takes place 

 in spring. Small parties are seen in almost every lane and field, 

 and a pair or two nest in almost every orchard. They are particu- 

 larly partial to the seeds of the elm-tree as a lining for their nests. 

 When a brood is to be reared for the cage, the nest and young are 

 taken from the branch and put into it, and hung on the tree, where 

 the old birds find them, and bring food (feeding them through the 

 wires of the cage) until they are able to provide for themselves. If 

 not strictly looked after at this period the young birds die, and a sin- 

 gular notion prevails amongst country people that their death is 

 caused by poison which is brought to them by their parents. The 

 real cause of death no doubt is that they are abandoned by the old 

 birds when fully fledged, as in the wild state, and not having the means 

 as in that state of providing food for themselves. 



Siskin (Fringilla spinus). Small parties occasionally make their 

 appearance in winter at uncertain intervals, but rarely stay many days, 

 and never pass the summer here. Flocks visited us December 9, 

 1844, February 1, 1845, and January 18, 1846. They keep close to 

 the streams, feeding on the alder-seeds, and are very familiar. They 

 seem to appear when the weather is most severe, and I have noticed 

 them on the alders when they have been whitened over with hoar frost. 

 Their chief business seems with those trees, for they rarely settle on 

 the neighbouring thorns or willows. 



Common Linnet {Linota cannabina). Linnets congregate in au- 

 tumn, sooner or later, according to circumstances, but never later than 

 October or earlier than August. If the spring has been favourable, 

 and they have been enabled to bring out their broods early, large 

 flocks may oftentimes be seen by the middle of August and corn 

 harvest. These congregations consist of many hundreds, which rove 

 from field to field in order to pick from amongst the corn the seeds of 



