FAMILY FringillidcB 



where it may be seen perched on fences and 

 telephone wires along the roads or feeding 

 on dandelion and thistle heads in the fields. 

 The goldfinch is equally common in the cities 

 about the lawns and gardens. Any vacant 

 lot grown up to weeds and thistles is likely to 

 be the home of a small flock of goldfinches 

 where they may be seen clinging to the bend- 

 ing stalks, picking at the ripened seeds. 



In its summer dress of black and yellow 

 the goldfinch differs from all other of our 

 small birds in the arrangement of its color 

 pattern, and this, together with its undulating 

 flight and querulous call note, which is uttered 

 on the wing, makes its identification easy. 



Its call note is a plaintive per-chic-o-ree. 

 Its song is a weak imitation of the tame ca- 

 nary and is heard constantly during the nest- 

 ing season. The willow goldfinch changes its 

 dress in the fall to olive-yellow and green and 

 drifts about in small family parties from 

 place to place in search of food, its favorite 

 haunts being weedy old fields and brush- 

 grown pastures. Because of its inconspicuous 

 dress at this time of year it is often overlooked, 

 and this leads to the common impression that 

 it is only a summer resident. The willow 

 goldfinch begins nesting in midsummer when 

 there is plenty of thistle down and other soft 

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