EASTERN GOLDFINCH 463 



In the spring, just after the prenuptial molt when the bu-Js are 

 still in flocks, a dozen or more birds may sing at once. At such times 

 songs tend to be of the long-continued type. This type is often used 

 also during the courtship period when the pair circles around with 

 undulating up and down dips of perhaps 20 to 30 feet. On such 

 occasions the male sings constantly while in flight. After nests are 

 established the male simply sings from a perch, giving one short song 

 after another. Frequently, song is over for the year before the young 

 leave the nest. 



The flight call popularly described as perchickaree and the sweet, 

 upward slurred sei silieeee often are mixed with the song. There 

 are other minor notes. There is the conversational twit or tee-tee-tee, a 

 reduced flight caU, perhaps, heard from feeding flocks. There is a 

 lower toned, roughened ggee given in a moment of animosity, which 

 rarely ruffles the tenor of the goldfinch's peaceful nature — "pleasantly 

 quarrelsome" my notes say — suggesting a call of the snow bunting. 

 I once heard a curious low-pitched note, perhaps a modification of the 

 song, which was spoken rather than whistled, repeated quickly 

 several times, and followed by tee-tee-tee notes, suggesting the song 

 of the short-billed marsh wren. The note of the young bird, heard 

 often in autumn, sounds like chipee, with the accent at the end. 

 It is a pleading, insisting cry. 



The song may begin in March before the prenuptial molt is com- 

 pleted, but it most commonly commences in April. Mr. Saunders' 

 earliest record in Connecticut for a 35-year period is Mar. 15, 1936; 

 the latest. May 1, 1938. The average date is between April 6 and 7. 

 His latest record is Aug. 31, 1942; the average for last songs being 

 August 27. In Allegany Park the last date was Aug. 28, 1935, and 

 the average date, August 15. Mr. Saunders also has a number of 

 records of songs during the autumn. He has three November records, 

 the latest being Nov. 20, 1926. 



Brand (1938) gives the mean vibration frequency as 4100, with 

 the rather wide range of 7400 and 2750. 



Enemies. — In addition to attacks by predators to which smaU, 

 defenseless birds are subject, several accidents, dangerous or fatal 

 to the life of the goldfinch, have been reported. For example, a 

 goldfinch was killed by an aircraft more than 1000 feet above the 

 ground (V. H. Brown, 1945); a dead goldfinch was found entangled in 

 burdock (B. S. Bowdish, 1906) ; a bird was immeshed in a spider's web 

 (George H. Mackay, 1929). John Burroughs (1886) tells the follow- 

 ing experience: "One day, in my walk, I came upon a goldfinch with 

 the tip of one wing securely fastened to the feathers of its rump by 

 what appeared to be the silk of some caterpillar. The bird, though 

 uninjured, was completely crippled, and could not fly a stroke. Its 



