126 . BBITISH BIRDS 



Goldfinch. 

 Carduelis elegans. 



Bacli of the head, nape, and feathers round the base of the bill 

 black ; forehead and throat blood-red ; cheeks, fore part of the neck, 

 and under parts white; back and scapulars dark brown; wings 

 variegated with black, white and yellow ; tail black, tipped with 

 white. Length, five inches. 



We are rich in finches. No fewer than eighteen members of 

 that family, including the snow-bunting, may be truly described as 

 British. Among our passerine birds they excel in beauty of plum- 

 age, and by most persons the goldfinch, in his pretty coat of many 

 colours — crimson, black, and white, and brown, and brilliant yellow 

 — is regarded as the most beautiful of all. Certainly he is the 

 most elegant in shape, the most graceful and engaging in his 

 motions. It is charming to watch a small flock of these finches in 

 the late summer, busy feeding on the roadside, or on some patch 

 of waste land where the seeds, they best love are abundant, when 

 they are seen clinging in various attitudes to the stalks, deftly pick- 

 ing off the thistle seed, and scattering the silvery down on the air. 

 They are then pretty birds prettily occupied ; and as they pass with 

 easy, undulating flight from weed to weed, with musical call-notes 

 and lively twitterings, bird following bird, they appear as gay and 

 volatUe as they are pretty. 



They are found in suitable localities throughout England, and 

 also inhabit Scotland and Ireland, but their distribution in the last 

 two coimtries is much more local. During late summer and autumn 

 they lead a gipsy life, incessantly wandering about the open country 

 in search of their favourite seeds. They are also seen in winter, 

 but few remain with us throughout the year, the majority passing 

 over the Channel, to winter in a warmer climate. On their return 

 in spring they come to the neighbourhood of houses, and build by 

 preference in an apple or cherry tree in an orchard. The nest is 

 weU made, and composed of a great variety of materials — fine twigs, 

 roots, grass, leaves, moss, and wool — and lined with hairs, feathers, 

 and vegetable down. The four or five eggs are white, thinly spotted 

 with reddish brown and pale purple. 



As a vocalist the goldfinch does not rank high ; but his lively, 



