The Birds' Calendar 



mndc from time to time to introduce and arrli- 

 mate in this country some of tlie noted si)eries 

 of ICurope ; but unfortunately many, if not most, 

 of such efforts ]:)rove fruitless. One day 1 met 

 in the Park a gentleman whose philanthroi)y in 

 this direction induces him yearly to have a hun- 

 dred or more specimens sent over. He had 

 imported a large number of chaffinches, one of 

 the most popular birds in England, and turned 

 them loose in the Park, and was vainly inquir- 

 ing what had become of them. The starling 

 has also been brought over, and I suspect that 

 on two occasions I have seen it, as it answered 

 the description as far as I could ascertain. 

 This being the songless season, the question was 

 left in doubt. 



The European goldfinch, which an ornitho- 

 logical writer of England calls " the most beauti- 

 ful of all our [their] resident birds," is one of the 

 very few thus introduced that are breeding wild 

 in this country, but so rarely found that they 

 are not yet reckoned among our birds in books 

 of ornithology. In some respects they are su- 

 perior to our American goldfinches, not on the 

 principle that an imported article is the best, 

 but as being rather finer vocalists and with 

 plumage a little richer. It is about five inches 

 60 



