SELDORNIANA 
183 
“ Dear Mr. Editor, — You ask, in the first sentence of the current issue of 
Nature Notes, whetlier we are to lose the goldfinch. Allow me to say that so 
far as my own experience goes, there is no chance of any such misfortune. My 
conviction is that the goldfinch is not only not diminishing, but slowly increasing 
in numbers. I have never seen so many as I have this year : almost every day 
just now I see them on the thistles, and this spring they bred in larger numbers 
in this parish than I have ever yet known. Our Rector told me last night that 
there were at least half-a-dozen nests in his garden and orchard. And this in 
spite of the fact that in this county we have taken no special steps to protect the 
bird in the breeding-season. 
“ No doubt these statements will be discounted or discredited by those who 
have once and for all made up their minds that the goldfinch is to di.sappear from 
among us. It will be said that my parish is a singular exception to the rule, and 
that I and others here must exercise a controlling influence on the enemies of the 
birds. Passively and unconsciously, we may do so ; but neither I nor anyone 
else here have ever held a meeting or lectured or agitated on the subject. And I 
am inclined to think that we are not the only fortunate people in the possession 
of goldfinches, for I have seen them in other places more Irequently than I used 
to. Lately at Tunbridge Wells, one of the most birdless places I know — not 
from persecution, but on account of the sandy and waterless nature of the soil — 
I was delighted to find an oak almost within the town quite full of goldfinches. 
“ I would venture to ask those who lament the disappearance of this species, 
whether they are quite sure that they do not often fail to see goldfinches, even 
when they are about. It is a curious fact that in spite of its beautiful colouring, 
the goldfinch is by no means an easy bird to be sure of. You must know the 
bird well, and you must look in the right places. When breeding they seem to 
me singularly difficult to get a good look at, even with a field-glass : they flit 
about over the trees in the orchard, and though not shy, are so restless that one 
has to be patient with them. Their nests rarely fall to the youthful depredator, 
as they are placed where he is not in the habit of looking. After the moult they 
show themselves more easily in the course of their search for seeds ; but for many 
years I have noticed that I have always to point them out, even to persons who 
have some little knowledge of birds, and that I myself recognise them, not 
by their brilliant crimson or yellow, but by their flight or note or attitude. I 
nearly always have to turn the glass upon them before I can see their colours 
satisfactorily. 
“ I confess that I do not much believe in further legislation as a means of 
protecting these small birds, though it may be needed tor the larger and con- 
spicuous ones which are especially the prey of the egg-dealer and the private 
collector. Probably the Selborne Society has done more than Parliament for 
the good end ; and in the case of some birds, still more has been done by mild 
winters and by the agricultural depression which raised the magnificent crops of 
thistles which we now unfortunately see in many parts of the country. If it be 
true that the extinction of the goldfinch was really threatened some twenty or 
thirty years ago, I should be disposed to guess that the real cause was the high 
state of agricultural activity and prosperity all over the country. 
“ Perhaps I may be allowed a word about one or two other species, in a 
recent number of the Spectator, Mr. Joseph Collinson stated that it is a well-known 
fact that not only the goldfinch, but the kingfisher, red-backed shrike, and reed- 
warbler are also diminishing in numbers. My experience does not tally with his 
statement in the case of any of these species. The shrike has never been, and 
never will be, an abundant bird ; but in certain soils (as Mr. Aplin’s researches 
have made clear to us) it is always to be found, and this year was more common 
in the neighbourhood of Oxford than I have ever known it, and approached to 
within a stone’s-throw of the suburbs. As to the reed-warbler, I am quite at a 
loss to understand why it should be supposed to be a failing species. Its nest is 
not nearly so easy to find as that of the more abundant species, the sedge-warbler, 
and it is not searched for by the bird-catchers. If it is diminishing (which I do 
not believe) the cause must be looked for in Nature’s workings, and not in the 
machinations of man. The same is the case with the kingfisher : a single pro- 
longed winter will kill more kingfishers than all the owners of trout-streams, 
or purveyors of feathers for ladies’ hats, destroy in a series of years. For the 
