EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH 395 



song may be performed in flight, but is usually given from a com- 

 manding perch in a treetop or on a wu-e, the singer swaying shghtly 

 back and forth in his ecstasy. Song often starts before sunrise, but 

 stops quite regularly on clear evenings at least 5 minutes before 

 sunset. 



Witherby (1938) charts the British goldfinch's singing period as 

 follows: exceptional or subdued song in late January and the first 

 half of February; irregular but fau-ly frequent song from then into 

 the first half of March; then steady singing into late July, after 

 which the birds sing irregularly to late August; an interval of silence 

 follows; then irregular song into early December. 



The Long Island birds followed this pattern rather closely during 

 the first 8 months of the year. Winter singing often constituted a 

 subdued but continuous musical twittering indulged in by the flock, 

 but occasionally individuals sang well. During February and March 

 birds often sang in the rain and sleet and during mild snowstorms, 

 usually from the shelter of conifers. Almost all this early singing 

 was done in trees, but during the nesting season wires became the 

 favorite singing perch. The irregular autumn singing in Britain is 

 duplicated by only two records here. Albert R. Shadle (1930) writes 

 of a bird that attracted his attention by singing from 200 feet away 

 at Buffalo, N.Y., on Oct. 17, 1929. One of five bh-ds I watched 

 feeding in a weedy field at Massapequa, Nov. 10, 1947, sang a sub- 

 dued song of 4 to 5 seconds duration. The only soimd recording of 

 the species in this country, made by Charles Brand for the Cornell 

 collection, was of a male, probably an escapee from captivity, that 

 remained for a week in late May around Cornell Heights, Ithaca, 

 N.Y. (Montagna, 1940). 



Enemies. — The European goldfinch has been exposed to the same 

 predators that attack all small birds in this country. Though no 

 cases have been reported, some doubtless fell victim to small hawks, 

 shrikes, and housecats. Nest predation at Massapequa was often 

 heavy. Three nests with a total of 15 eggs in 1944 fledged only two 

 young; one nest was robbed when the clutch was just completed, 

 the other two days after the last young hatched. Though none was 

 caught in the act, the main predators presumably were grackles and 

 perhaps blue jays to a lesser extent. Grackles were common in the 

 nesting area, and one of the robbed nests was in a pitch pine directly 

 beneath one of their favorite fhght routes. Though cowbirds were 

 plentiful in the vicinity, their attentions were apparently frustrated 

 by the goldfinch's habit of incubating closely after the first egg is 

 laid, for no case of cowbird parasitism was ever noted. 



The greatest limiting factor to the species' success in this country 

 unquestionably has been man. Trapping for cage bird purposes is 



