448 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



of song while flying on an even course with rapid wing-beats, and 

 then, having perched a moment, left with undulations closely com- 

 pressed, fifteen feet deep or more. 



"* * * In early July, the sexes are still flocking together, though 

 some have apparently long been paired." 



Dayton Stoner (1932) describes the goldfinch's occurrence in New 

 York State in spring: "During the entire month of May flocks of 

 eastern goldfinches are to be found almost everywhere about Oneida 

 Lake, singing, and feeding on the buds of apple or the seeds of elm 

 and other trees. * * * The small isolated wooded tracts and the 

 open fields appeal to it and although a considerable local movement 

 is displayed at this season it is without definite direction or objective. 

 Often small flocks can be seen and heard as they pass high above the 

 extensive wooded area north of Cleveland; they may even stop to 

 rest and feed or sing in some of the trees, but they soon move on 

 again. 



"* * * Throughout June, also, the goldfinch continues its local 

 wanderings, indulging its sociable tendencies and singing blithely in 

 trees and orchards and on roadside telephone wires. It becomes 

 then one of the most noticeable local species of birds." 



The following, from my notes, describes a typical sight in eastern 

 Massachusetts in spring: "A gathering of two or three hundred gold- 

 finches, surely 90 percent males, feeding on the ground in a market 

 garden among chickweed plants in bloom. They often whirled away, 

 dozens at once, to telephone wires and the adjoining woods a field 

 away, later returning to the ground again where they alighted with 

 a quick turn. They sang in chorus from the trees." 



Courtship. — John Burroughs (1904) describes an attractive little 

 ceremony which takes place in spring: "When the change [in plumage] 

 is complete, and the males have got their bright uniforms of yellow 

 and black, the courting begins. AU the goldfinches of a neighborhood 

 collect together and hold a sort of musical festival. To the munber 

 of many dozens they may be seen in some large tree, all singing and 

 calling in the most joyous and vivacious manner. The males sing, 

 and the females chirp and call. Whether there is actual competition 

 on a trial of musical abilities of the males before the females or not, 

 I do not know. The best of feeling seems to pervade the company; 

 there is no sign of quarreling or fighting; 'all goes merry as a marriage 

 bell,' and the matches seem actually to be made during these musical 

 picnics. * * * I have known the goldfinches to keep up this musical 

 and love-making festival through three consecutive days of a cold 

 northeast rainstorm. Bedraggled, but ardent and happy, the birds 

 were not to be dispersed by wind or weather." 



