NOTES AND QUERIES. 105 



in flocks on the moorlands at approach of autumn. Steadily increasing 

 during late years, and would become very frequent were it not for the 

 bird-fanciers, who catch hundreds in a season (autumn and winter). — 

 Stanley Lewis (Wells, Somerset). 



Cambridgeshire. — Formerly it used to be very abundant, and even 

 within the last ten or twelve years I have met birdcatchers who have 

 caught eight or ten dozen in a day, though this must be regarded as 

 exceptional. During 1893-1896 I have frequently known two or three 

 dozen to be caught, and looked upon by the catchers as an average 

 day's work. They are still by no means rare, and breed in the gardens 

 of most of the villages, especially near the fens, where many family 

 parties may be met with in autumn feeding on the thistles that abound 

 in the rough pasture-land. — J. L. Bonhote (Ditton Hall, Fen Ditton, 

 Cambridge). 



Hertfordshire. — Increased very prominently in this county during 

 the last three or four years. — W. Percival Westell (St. Albans, 

 Herts). 



Yorkshire — Scarborough. — I have been an observer of birds in rural 

 England for nearly thirty years, as a resident in both southern and 

 northern counties. All the wild Goldfinches I have ever seen would 

 not number a dozen, yet I never go anywhere from home without 

 making a list of every bird seen. A nest of young ones, I have reason 

 to believe, was taken near here in 1897, but I only saw the empty 

 nest, which might have been a Lesser Redpoll's. Here confusion of 

 common names sometimes arises through the Yellowhammer being 

 called " Goldie." My limited experience with this bird may evoke a 

 smile from more fortunate ornithologists. I have, however, spoken of 

 the Goldfinch as I know it. — W. Gyngell (Scarborough). 



Devonshire. — No increase since publication of ' Birds of Devon * 

 (1892). Have not seen any since March, 1893. Mr. E. A. S. Elliott 

 thought at one time the bird was becoming more plentiful near Kings- 

 bridge, but now writes : " There are still a few about. I sometimes 

 see single birds on the coast in spring. It looks as if they had crossed 

 the Channel." Great numbers perished in the severe winters of the 

 last half of the past century. Up to 1880 Goldfinches were taken in 

 considerable numbers by Exeter birdcatchers. — W. S. M. D'Urban 

 (Newport House, near Exeter). 



A Habit of the Lesser Redpoll (Linota rufescens). — With reference 

 to this subject by Mr. Blathwayt (ante, p. 26), the following remarks 

 may be of some interest. This is a fairly common breeding species in 

 this part of Cheshire, and I can endorse Mr. Butterfield's assertion 



