2 
goldfinch. 
weather was favourable, and caught a number of BullSnehes and several Goldfinches; ; the : form r gene y 
moved about in parties of five or six, though never above a pair of Goldfinches were seen and more freque: j 
solitary cook birds. I had several, perhaps half a dozen, different places suitable or setting my nets and th 
morning seldom passed at any of them without one or more of this species being noticed, if not caugh . I 
remember on one occasion my best male call-bird made his escape, owing to the net becoming entangled in the 
fastening wire and opening the door of his cage. Though at liberty, he showed no inclination to take hi 
departure, but remained busily engaged in cleaning his plumage in a fence at the side of a plantation abo 
twenty yards distant, and a few minutes after a fresh-caught bird had been placed in the net, he flew r down to 
some ‘thistles and was at once secured again. The numbers found at tins season will show that thou h sc d„m 
met with in large flocks, Goldfinches do not entirely desert our shores in winter ; I have also observed them 
small parties in the plantations round some of the larger Broads in the east of Norfolk. Under the date 
December 1881, while shooting at Potter Heigham, it is entered in my notes that at least twenty of this species, in 
company with as many Siskins, were watched working their way through the woods adjoining Heigham Sounds 
Though not feeding together, the Siskins invariably keeping to the alders, while the Go dfinches confined the 
attentions to the rough bark of the stunted and moss-grown oaks, each party, I remarked, kept the other in 
sight and immediately joined in company when a lengthened flight to another plantation was undertaken 
The beautiful and neatly built nest of the Goldfinch somewhat resembles that of the Chaffinch , but the 
materials are finer and more cleverly interwoven, no conspicuous lichens being used in its construction. 
A brood of five in my collection, taken from their cradle in an apple-tree in a garden at Hickling m June 1873, 
iust as they were on the point of leaving, proved very useful to compare with their parents obtained at tie 
same time. The young in their first plumage appear to differ little from the old birds, with the exception t lat 
the black and lovely crimson markings on the heads are wanting. While exhibiting this deficiency the juveniles 
are generally termed “ Grey-pates ” by the professional bird-catchers and dealers, that appellation having been 
bestowed on them on account of the colouring of the feathers on those parts. 
In the east of Norfolk I learned that the marshmen invariably spoke of this species as the “ Draw-water, 
evidently bestowing this title on account of the habit it occasionally acquires in confinement of drawing up a 
small bucket by means of a chain to supply itself with water. While living in Yorkshire many years ago I 
heard these birds called “ Captains ” by the country people in the neighbourhood of Doncaster. 
