464 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 pabt i 



little body was hot and panting in my hands, as I carefully broke the 

 fetter. Then it darted swiftly away with a happy cry." 



Herbert Friedmann (1929) says that the goldfinch is a "fairly common 

 victim" of the cowbird. "At Ithaca [N.Y.], a region where both 

 this species and the Cowbird are common, and where many nest 

 of this bird have been found, there are no cases on record. Dr. A. A. 

 Allen, whose observations on this region extend over a long period, 

 has never known of a Cowbird laying in a Goldfinch's nest, and my 

 observations tend to show that the laying of the Cowbird is on the 

 decline at the time when the Goldfinch starts to nest in numbers. 

 Eaton (1914), however, lists this bird as one of the common victims 

 of the Cowbird in New York, so evidently there is considerable 

 variation locally. * * * 



"Occasionally this species covers up the strange egg after the manner 

 of the Yellow Warbler. * * * 



"I have found records from Montreal, New England, New York, 

 and Ohio, west to Indiana, Illinois, and North Dakota, and south to 

 Oklahoma." 



Walter P. Nickell (1951) mentions finding a nest infested with 

 mites. Arthur A. Allen (1934) states young may drown in the water- 

 holding nest. D. A. Zimmerman (1954) mentions 33 birds found 

 dead on highways. 



Winter. — In the parts of the country where it stays the year round 

 the goldfinch is one of our most attractive winter birds. In the 

 countryside about Boston, Mass., for example, we may see them, 

 a hundred together, loosely associated with tree sparrows or more 

 intimately with redpolls, collected in open fields feeding on weeds 

 above the snow. Here they sometimes exhibit a habit common in 

 birds thus gathered together; the whole flock progresses in one 

 direction across the field by the birds in the rear successively flying 

 to the front, over the heads of the others, seeking an advantage over 

 their companions. In spite of this rivalry, however, a spirit of har- 

 mony and friendliness seems to pervade all the company. Perhaps 

 the restlessness of the birds and the likelihood of their leaving the 

 vicinity at any moment add to the charm of these gatherings, for at 

 an instant, the whole flock may whirl up and fly away, perhaps out 

 of sight and hearing. 



In the winter flocks, goldfinches show so little difference in plumage 

 that it is probable that the sexes are segregated, at least for the most 

 part, at this season. 



R. J. Longstreet (1928) reports a remarkable observation. On 

 Dec. 22, 1927, at Daytona Beach, Fla., he saw "a large flock of 

 Goldfinches * * * flying northward back of the sand dunes which 

 line the ocean beach. * * * 



