LAND BIRDS. 



477 



■^^^ 



Fig. li;i. Goldfinch. 

 .Vdiilt male, in raid.siunii 



universully distributed and found both summer and winter, although 



the winter plumage is so unlike that 



of summer that the birds usually pass 



unrecognized. Moreover, it is much 



less abundant in winter, and often 



the entire season may pass without 



any being seen. Undoubtedly all the 



summer Goldfinches in any one 



region move southward in autumn, 



and those which are found in winter 



have come from more northern 



regions. These latter seem to return 



northward again in spring before 



their plumage has brightened much, 



but very soon the birds appear which 



have wintered farther south and 



these already have begun to take on 



the brighter summer plumage. They 



reach middle Michigan in flocks the 



last of April or first of May and 



during that month and June are very 



conspicuous, feeding on the seeds of the elms, often on the ground, or 



gathering by scores on the patches of dandelions to feast on the ripening 



seeds. 



They remain in flocks until nesting begins, which is usually not until 

 early July, and probably many of the birds do not nest until late in that 

 month. Eggs may be found all through August and occasionally in Septem- 

 ber. Samuel Spicer of Goodrich, Genesee county, records a nest with two 

 fresh eggs found in a corn shock September 28, 1888. The nest is commonly 

 placed in small orchard trees or shade trees, frequently in nurseries or 

 willow thickets, and at heights varying from two to thirty feet from the 

 ground. It is compactly and very neatly built of grasses and plant fibres, 

 is deeply hollowed and lined with the softest of fibers, often with down 

 from thistle, milk-weed, and other plants. The eggs are three to six, very 

 pale blue and usually without spots, but rarely with a few brown specks. 

 They average .66 by .47 inches. 



The Goldfinch feeds mainly on seeds of various kinds, among which 

 those of the Composita) hold the most important place. Its fondness for 

 lettuce seed has earned for it the name of Lettuce-bird in some sections 

 and the names Thistle-bird and Salad-bird have a similar origin. The 

 fact that the young are fed mainly on the (regurgitated) seeds of these 

 Compositas, which are mostly late blooming plants, has been given as the 

 probable explanation of the late nesting, ancl no better one has been offered 

 thus far. That insects form some small part of the food is probable, but 

 no great amount of credit can be claimed on this account. The consump- 

 tion of weed seed, however, is a positive benefit, but perhaps hardly more 

 than repays the market gardener and seedsman for the turnij), lettuce, and 

 other valuable seeds taken. Besides the seeds named the Goldfinch eats 

 a host of others and is particularly fond of goldenrod, aster, and the various 

 wild sunflowers; also in winter it eats the seeds of the birch and alder, and, 

 with the Pine Finch or Siskin, visits the arbor-vita; and scrub pine and 

 extracts such seeds as it is able. 



Its ordinary call-note when at rest is very similar to that of the common 



