BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 73 
many winters past I have been surprised at the very large 
numbers that are sent weekly from Dumfriesshire to 
Uasgow. Many hundreds must be taken in a season. 
From being a comparatively common bird, therefore, 
the Goldfinch is, from this cause alone, now rather a scarce 
species, and as cultivation extends, the plants on the seeds 
of which they feed are naturally becoming diminished."* 
A great many that are caught and caged are paired 
with a canary, the resulting hybrid being considered to 
possess remarkably fine powers of song. In captivity the 
Goldfinch mates with several species of finches, and instances 
of Its having bred in a wild state with the Greenfinch have 
abeady been noted. (See p. 70.) A local bird-catcher 
confidently told me that the real " Dumfries goldie " should 
have yellow, the commoner sort flesh-coloured, and the 
foreigners " dark brown legs ; but I have been unable to 
confirm this fancy from any of the standard works on 
ornithology. 
Within the last fifteen or twenty years the Goldfinch 
seems to have been on the increase, and reports show that 
It has nested recently, though not regularly, in nearly every 
parish. In autumn and winter there may be a small 
accession to their numbers from further north, but there is 
no evidence that these birds are other than examples 
of the Bntish race, which is darker and more olive- 
brown on its upper surface. In winter. Goldfinches 
gather into small flocks, and Mr. J. E. Steele informs 
me that once at this season he saw a flock of sixty near 
Dunscore. Mr. W. Coupland writes me from Kirk- 
mahoe, that in the winter of 1907-1908 the bird-catchers 
there caught so many that they nearly extermmated the 
local flocks, some of which contained over twenty birds 
Improved agriculture, and with it the disappearance 'of 
such favourite food as the thistle, burdock, ragweed, and 
horse-knot, may account for the reduction in numbers of 
this species since the " good old days " ; but the fore- 
* Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 144. 
