Tame Goldfinches
A few years ago it was lamented that the goldfinch, loveliest of the finch tribe, was disappearing ; and I have myself found trappers engaged in • their nefarious trade. Whether the welcome change is due to stricter laws and administration we do not know, but the little bright red and gold " goldspink " has again become a very common bird ; and, as it seems to some observers, less shy than its wont. I have watched them from a few yards drinking at a tiny pool in a Swanage garden. A much more detailed account of their frequency and tameness reaches me from a garden near St. Asaph in North Wales. Three or four pairs habitually nest in the garden and one of them this season brought off a brood in an apple bush skirting a much used path. The nest was not more than five feet from the ground, a very unusual site. Little flocks of these birds are now to be seen in my neighbourhood busy among a number of yoUng trees, recently planted for afforestation purposes. Intidentally " it is worth mentioning that the afforester has included' a certain number of _ cotoneaster Simonsii. They berry brightly at the edges of the plantations.
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