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apple, and make way to the kernells; they were of the 
bignesse of a Bullfinch, the henne right like the henneofthe 
Bullfinch in coulour; the cocke a very glorious bird, in a 
manner al redde or yellowe on the brest, backe, and head. 
The oldest man living never heard or reade of any such like 
bird; and the thinge most to bee noted was, that it seemed 
they came out of some country not inhabited; for that they 
at the first would abide shooting at them, either with pellet, 
bowe, or other engine, and not remove till they were stricken 
downe; moreover, they would abide the throweing at them, 
in so much as diverse were stricken downe and killed with 
often throweing at them with apples. They came when 
the apples were rype, and went away when the apples were 
cleane fallen. They were very good meate.’ 
So also in Childrey’s ‘Britannia Baconica:’—In Queen 
Elizabeth’s time a flock of birds came into Cornwall, about 
harvest, a little bigger than a Sparrow, which had bils 
thwarted crosswise at the end, and with these they would 
cut an apple in two at one snap, eating onely the kernels; 
and they made a great spoil among the apples.’ 
In Ireland they have been often noticed. 
In Scotland, they were abundant in 1821, and since then 
have been repeatedly observed: some remain in that part of 
the island throughout the year. 
In Orkney great numbers of this bird were observed during 
winter a few years ago. They were also very abundant in 
several of the islands in 1806 and 1807. 
In Yorkshire, in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, in the 
year 1836, they were very plentiful in the plantations near 
Sandal, and no doubt all around. I wrote an account of 
them in the ‘Magazine of Natural History,’ volume ix., p. 
413; also near Knaresborough in 1846, as likewise in numbers 
about the year 1838, so also in 1829. They have been met 
with near Hebden-Bridge, Halifax, Barnsley, Sheffield; Killing- 
beck, Leeds, and Boynton, near Bridlington. 
In Bramham Park, several nests were found in the year 
1840, and at Boynton, Arthur Strickland, Esq., found one 
himself; also near Swinhope, in Lincolnshire, the Bev. B. P. 
Alington has known them in former years tolerably common, 
feeding on the cones of the larch firs. 
This species also builds in the fir plantations about 
Dodington, Kent, of which Mr. Chaffey of that place is my 
informant; and it has also been known to do so near Dart- 
