GOLDFINCH. 397 



number, to furnish a plate for his intended portraits of British 

 birds. In winter, I have seen even so few as two together, 

 pecking at the- few thistle-tops that shot up here and there 

 through the snow. 



The Goldfinch is generally distributed, occurring in most of 

 our wooded and cultivated districts ; but while plentiful in some 

 parts, it is rare in others that seem to be equally favourable. 

 Thus, although not uncommon about Aberdeen and Elgin, 

 it is very rare in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, in which 

 I never met with more than a single flock. Its song, which 

 usually commences about the end of March, and continues un- 

 til July, is very sweet, and varied. Its flight resembles that 

 of the Linnets, with which it sometimes associates in winter, 

 searching the fields for oat and other seeds. 



It usually nestles on trees, in orchards, gardens, or planta- 

 tions. The nest resembles that of the Chaffinch in form, but 

 is more elaborately interwoven with wool and hair, the exterior 

 being composed of grass, moss, and lichens, as well as occa- 

 sionally thread, twigs, and other substances, the interior of the 

 down of various plants, cotton, and such other delicate fila- 

 ments as it meets with. The eggs, about five in number, are 

 about nine twelfths of an inch in lengih, six and a half in 

 breadth, bluish-white, or pale greyish-blue, sometimes tinged 

 with brown, and marked with a few spots of greyish-purple 

 and brown, and in some cases a dark streak or two. 



Among various notices respecting birds sent by my friend 

 Mr. Weir, is the following account of this species. " In this 

 neighbourhood, and most parts of Linlithgowshire, Goldfinches., 

 which, during the summer season, were at one time very abun- 

 dant, are now rarely seen. In severe winters they often perish, 

 particularly when they are accompanied with heavy falls of 

 snow. This was the case in the winter of 1823. Several pairs 

 of them used to build every year on the tall plane-trees on the 

 south side of Balbardie garden. I have known their nest in 

 yew and apple trees in gardens in the middle of the town of 

 Bathgate, but their young ones were generally destroyed by 

 cats or boys. A pair of them built one year on a balsam 

 poplar which grew on the side of one of the streets of the last- 



