396 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 tart i 



believed to have reduced the Central Park population around the turn 

 of the century. The recent development of the old waste farm- 

 lands on western Long Island for suburban homes has of course 

 been the final blow. The Long Island colony was never large and was 

 apparently barely able to maintain its numbers. The birds that 

 wintered so regularly on the old Fort Neck farm in Massapequa before 

 it was bulldozed into building lots numbered exactly 17 individuals in 

 1942, 1945, and 1946. Fewer than a dozen reports of the species were 

 made on Long Island in 1954, none listing more than three birds, and 

 less than half as many in 1955. The only recent report is a lone bird 

 seen near Orient, Long Island, May 30, 1961. 



Winter. — After the breeding season the Long Island European 

 goldfinches usually appeared first in the suburban flower beds, then, 

 turning to seed, in southern Nassau and parts of Queens and Suffolk 

 counties. As the food in these areas became exhausted, the birds 

 repaired for the winter to deserted farmlands where weed seeds were 

 plentiful, just as they do abroad. Witherby (1938) describes their 

 favored wintering grounds in Britian as "rough, neglected pastures, 

 roadsides, and waste land, with thistle and other weeds." This 

 certainly fits their former wintering territory at Massapequa. 



As the birds shunned the more wooded and marshy areas and the 

 shore sections, they went unreported by the bird watchers who 

 largely concentrated on these more productive regions. This doubt- 

 less accounts for Cruikshank (1942) writing: "Immediately after the 

 nesting season the birds seem to vanish, and records until the following 

 spring are few and far between." 



Their favored haunt at Massapequa on the old Fort Neck farm was 

 a vacated barnyard surrounded by neglected fields full of thistle, 

 burdock, and other weeds, and bordered by a grove of f akly large red 

 cedars which provided them shelter during severe weather. The small 

 wintering parties were usually restless and nervous when feeding on 

 the ground, and flew frequently into the nearby trees. Food was 

 usually plentiful throughout the mild Long Island winters, and the 

 birds always seemed in good condition to withstand the winter season 

 there. The effect of occasional spells of more severe weather with 

 snow or sleet was to scatter them into wider territory, and it seems 

 strange that practically none were ever reported from the many feed- 

 ing stations in the area. 



Its attractive appearance, interesting habits, and sweet song that 

 began in late winter when few other birds were singing, made this 

 little European finch a welcome addition to our avifauna. It is 

 regrettable that it was so limited in distribution and unable to maintain 

 itself over a wider range. During its heyday in the 1940's, bird lovers 

 came annually from far and wide to see it in this, its last stronghold in 



