THE GOLDFINCH ABROAD 



It is encouraging to those who love the gold- 

 finch to know that this most charming of the 

 finches has been acclimatised abroad, in countries 

 inhabited by English-speaking people, with most 

 gratifying success. To those who have followed 

 the progress of acclimatisation, it is well known 

 that goldfinches were among the species which 

 throve best when many English birds of different 

 kinds were liberated in New Zealand a quarter 

 of a century ago ; and they are now so abundant 

 there that a bird-catcher can go out and catch 

 fifteen dozen in a morning. It is noteworthy 

 that no complaint has been lodged against the 

 goldfinch in New Zealand, while the sparrow, 

 yellowhammer, and greenfinch are there deemed 

 such nuisances that they were recently proscribed 

 by name in the Legislature of the colony. In 

 Tasmania, also, it appears that the goldfinch is 

 doing well, being, according to Mr. F. M. Littler 

 of Launceston, in that island, the next best-known 

 imported bird after the sparrow. The goldfinch 

 has been in Tasmania for about twenty years, 

 and is numerous in Hobart and the surrounding 



country, going at times in flocks of forty and 



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