386 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paex i 



roughly from Baldwin to Babylon on the south and northward to an 

 apex at Westbury. Here at Massapequa my parents first observed 

 occasional small flocks visiting their composite flower beds around 1910 

 and called my attention to them as a reminder of their childhood days 

 in Britain. During the next few years I saw the goldfinches often 

 enough to regard them no longer as a novelty, and I continued to see 

 birds intermittently through the 1920's and early 1930's, During 

 the war years the species seemed to be increasing slowly but steadily 

 around Massapequa. By the middle 1950's, however, the postwar 

 building boom destroyed much of its favorite habitat in this area. 

 The species then became progressively rarer and has now virtually 

 disappeared. 



Courtship. — On Long Island singing males appeared on the nesting 

 grounds in mid-April, usuaUy accompained by nonsinging birds, 

 presumably the females. On several occasions at this time I watched 

 a pair mount high into the air and fly about for a brief interval, during 

 which the male burst into a very attractive flight song, which ended 

 as both descended together on a long slant and flew into the nesting 

 area. 



The female appears much the duUer of the pair when the male 

 displays before her, posturing to make the most of his bright yellow 

 wing patches. As Witherby (1938) describes it, the "courting male 

 sways body from side to side and quickly turns slightly expanded 

 wings first to one side and then to the other, with a golden flashing 

 effect." I watched one singing male advance toward the female, 

 swaying characteristically from side to side with his wings partly 

 spread and flashing his bright yellow wing patches. His mate also 

 swayed slightly and crouched, whereupon he hopped momentarily 

 on her back. Before he actuaUy came to rest, she sUpped from under, 

 uttered several harsh notes, and hopped unhurriedly among the near- 

 by branches. Then she flew into a neighboring tree, and from there 

 into another, and passed out of sight, the male following closely. At 

 no time did I see copulation actually take place. 



Nesting. — British writers list the goldfinch as nesting in gardens and 

 orchards, in oaks, chestnuts, or plane trees (sycamores), and occasion- 

 ally in shrubs, evergreens, and hedges. W. E. Glegg (1943) writes 

 that at Minchinhampton (Gloucestershire) on Apr. 26, 1943, H. C. 

 Playne "inspected a nest of the goldfinch {Carduelis c. britannicd) 

 which was built on the top of the thick stalk of a plant of brussels 

 sprouts about 4 feet above the ground and surrounded by the flowering 

 shoots. The female was sitting on five eggs." 



In America the European goldfinch has nested principally in trees. 

 Allan D. Cruickshank (1942) describes the nest as "placed in a conifer 

 or deciduous tree from five to thirty feet from the ground." Among 



