The Goldfinch Abroad 



protected here. Any one who wants goldfinches 

 should buy the large and beautiful birds imported 

 freely from Siberia in the winter, and now costing 

 in many cases little more than home-caught birds, 

 though far superior in beauty. Moreover, as it 

 has been repeatedly proved that goldfinches will 

 breed in captivity, a tame strain could probably 

 be raised with little trouble if a dearth of captured 

 birds gave a stimulus to " the fancy " in this 

 regard. 



We should not, however, be too severe on the 

 captors and gaolers of goldfinches, since it is 

 through them that the extension of this delightful 

 bird's habitat has come about ; and, so long as 

 English goldfinches are caught and sold, it would 

 be worth while to spread them further yet. The 

 Argentine, with its great thistle-beds, would seem 

 an ideal field of emigration to which many a 

 worthy goldfinch, hard pressed by high farming 

 and weedless fields, might be assisted, his family's 

 history as emigrants being ample guarantee that 

 he would not abuse the privilege. The goldfinch, 

 as I have heard remarked more than once, always 

 looks like a gentleman, and he evidently behaves 

 accordingly, not repaying a fresh start in the 

 world with base ingratitude, like that ruffianly 

 hooligan, the sparrow. "Philip Sparrow" has 

 had far more assistance in emigration than " King 

 Harry Redcap," but New Zealand, Tasmania, 



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