142 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



relating to the Twite, which, considering that it was written 

 eighty years ago, deserves a place here : ' The Twite (Fringilla 

 montium) breeds on the hills of Yorkshire and Westmorland, 

 but does not remain all the year in its summer habitation. For 

 Twites congregate in multitudes about the beginning of October, 

 and disappear ; but large flocks of them are seen at that time, 

 or not long after, in the south of England. Thus are the two 

 retreats of this migratory finch pretty well ascertained.' l 



BULLFINCH. 



Pyrrhula enropcea, Vieill. 



The Bullfinch nests commonly in all our larger woods and 

 gardens, while single pairs occasionally rear their young in some 

 of the more remote dales of Lakeland. Very charming is the 

 confidence which this bird often displays in nesting close to 

 human habitation. In June 1891 I saw a hen Bullfinch sitting 

 upon seven eggs in a thick evergreen that grows close beside a 

 cottage door. The inmates of the house passed and repassed 

 many times a day, but the Bullfinch heeded not, faithfully brood- 

 ing over her precious charges. I have often wondered that none 

 of the naturalists who live in the eastern parts of England have 

 detected the presence of Pyrrhula major, the Northern Bullfinch, 

 as a winter immigrant. It is common enough in Southern 

 Sweden in the dead season, and as Mr. G. E. Lodge tells me, 

 the males then fly in large droves. The addition of this species 

 or sub-species to the British List is probably only a question of 

 time. It should therefore be looked for. 



CROSSBILL. 



Loxia curvirostra, L. 



A small clump of fir-trees, still standing near the village of 

 Cumwhinton, possesses a local interest for ornithologists. Here 

 it was that the eggs of the Crossbill were first taken in Lakeland, 

 the year before T. C. Heysham died. The person who found 

 the nest of this species was the late James Fell, from whose lips 

 1 Mem. Manch. Phil. Soc, Second Series, vol. ii. p. 463. 





