GREEN-BACKED GOLDFINCH 475 



buds are abundant. The kinds of food it eats require that water 

 be available nearby. Thickets of bushes or trees close to water are 

 occupied consistently through the dry season. Common foraging 

 places are in patches of weeds along roadsides, in pastures, and on 

 hUly slopes. 



In August 1931 a severe fire in Napa and Lake counties, Calif., was 

 disastrous to the bird populations in the region. Eight months 

 after the fire H. W. Clark (1935) went over a part of the burned area. 

 A few black oaks and manzanitas had survived, and along a creek 

 the alders and streamside shrubs were unharmed. Wild flowers had 

 sprung up in profusion, and the burned area was a mass of bloom. 

 Green-backed goldfinches were the most abundant birds, supposedly 

 because of the prevalence of seed-bearing plants. 



Courtship. — Pair formation is usually accompanied by courtship 

 song, courtship flight, song flight, and a canarylike song. Courtship 

 feeding is important in the maintenance of the bond. These elements 

 resemble the ones observed by Stokes (1950) in his study of the 

 American goldfinch. The species studied on the Hastings Reserva- 

 tion in California contrasts in several ways with the calendar of activ- 

 ity exhibited by the species farther east. 



In midmorning of Jan. 29, 1945, on a wooded hill a male perched 

 at the tip of the topmost twig of a 40-foot leafless valley oak. Turning 

 first one way, then the other, he uttered an almost continuous song. 

 This was the first singing green-backed goldfinch observed that season. 

 Earlier in the month there had been snatches of song intermingled 

 with a variety of calls. 



In early morning on Feb. 7, 1938, a pair stood within 12 inches of 

 each other on a fence in chamisal. After a flight of 50 feet by the 

 female the male caught up and both birds dived over a ridge in a 

 close, twisting flight. In late March a male led a female in flight 

 and he sang on the wing. At this season goldfinches were frequently 

 scattered in pairs over the reservation. One mid-April afternoon 

 several green-backed goldfinches foraged with Lawrence goldfinches 

 in blue oaks and in fiddleneck patches in an open field. The day was 

 partly cloudy, but the air was warmer than it had been for several 

 weeks. Courtship behavior that day included pursuits — apparently 

 of males by males — displays with feathers raised, tail spread and 

 elevated, and wings waving rapidly, and short flights in which the 

 bird moved slowly but with the wings moving much more rapidly 

 and widely than in ordinary flight. Also there was much singing 

 from perches in the trees. 



In May many goldfinches were observed corn-ting along a flowing 

 creek. Attracted there by the water, they were mostly in pairs. 

 Some piu-suits were noted, and there were some display flights. 



