300 Birds, 



and barley, nigh to the onstead ; indeed these crops are never safe! 

 from their rapacity till carried into the yard, and even then the ex- 

 posed ears fall a prey to them, and other little birds : it is impossible 

 for them to burrow into our stacks, far less to pull out the straws. 

 When the fields are cleared they will forage in the neighbouring stub- 

 bles, keeping close to the hedges so long as the supply lasts. I often 

 see them feeding on the seeds of the charlock thrown from the barn, 

 but I have not seen them eating those of any other weed : in the 

 garden, the seeds of the tamarisk and white broom are special favo- 

 rites, and sometimes the petals of the dahlia. 



The Goldfinch. Many years have now elapsed since the goldfincl 

 nestled about our onsteads and villages, where they were once as 

 plentiful as sparrows. Grey-haired ploughmen talk of their services 

 amongst the thistles, and other weeds in the outfield ; but infield and 

 outfield, the wretched agricultural practices of the olden times, have 

 alike passed away, and with them this bright finch, which is now only 

 known as a rare straggler. 



The Linnet. It is always pleasant to listen to the song of the 

 brown or grey linnet, in the gay furze- thicket, on an early summer's 

 morn, or to the choral bursts of assembled hundreds on a hedge-row 

 tree, in a calm winter's day, enlivening the bleak and desolate fields 

 with their merry sports, as they search the stubbles for seeds of the 

 charlock and grain : even in open weather they frequent the stack- 

 yard, where I perceive that the heap of seeds cast out from the bam 

 has more attractions for them than any other food. Early in April 

 these gatherings disperse, and the several pairs betake themselves to 

 their breeding-grounds, whin-thickets on the slopes of hills and by 

 the sides of lanes, the only places where they build their nests. They 

 are very sociable birds : even at this season, small parties search the 

 pastures and fallows in quest of the seeds of the chickweed, ground- 

 sel, dandelion, &c. They are the most determined of all the plun- 

 derers of our fields of turnip-seed ; though repeatedly driven off by 

 the gun or the rattle of the watchman, yet they soon return, with 

 bounding flight and gay carol, the merriest, lightest-hearted robbei 

 in the world : autumn comes with good store of ripened seeds, but 

 many of these are covered by the ripening grain, the linnets occasion- 

 ally help themselves to a few oats near a hedgerow, till the reaper 

 has cleared the fields, then they revel in abundance, and confer incal- 

 culable benefits on every farmer, who allows them quietly to enjoj 

 the bounties which Nature hath spread abroad with no sparing hand^ 



