or they may only seem commoner because the male has again put on his 

 summer coat and because they go in flocks. The goldfinches are a happy, 

 jolly, care-free lot of rovers. They seem to be strongly attached to each 

 other and prolong the life in the flock well into the summer ; then they go 

 oi¥ in pairs to begin their house making and house keeping duties in the 

 crotch of some bush or tree. 



From the viewpoint of the farmer and gardener the goldfinch is a most 

 desirable neighbor. He takes no liberties with anything that man in his 

 selfishness has tried to appropriate to his own exclusive use. He is not only 

 negatively good, he is very positively good. He is one of the unpaid but 

 very efficient assistants of the weed commissioner, and never hesitates to 

 invade a thistle patch for fear of hurting the feelings of the owner of the 

 land, nor for fear of injuring his own chances of re-election. He helps with 

 the dandelions and plantain, with the ragweed and dock. He is fond of sun- 

 flower seeds but gets hardly a taste of them if English sparrows are about. 



These beautiful birds are more than weed-seed destroyers. Like their 

 relatives, the finches and sparrows, they feed their young on insects and thus 

 help to hold in check the beetles and grasshoppers and the rest of that 

 pestilential army. 



Brown Thrasher 



Habits and economic status : The brown thrasher is more retiring than 

 either the mocking bird or catbird, but like them is a splendid singer. Not 

 infrequently, indeed, its song is taken for that of its more famed cousin, the 

 mocking bird. It is partial to thickets and gets much of its food from the 

 ground. Its search for this is usually accompanied by much scratching and 

 scattering of leaves; whence its common name. Its call note is a sharp 

 sound like the smacking of lips, which is useful in identifying this long- 

 tailed, thicket-haunting bird, which does not much relish close scrutiny. The 

 brown thrasher is not so fond of fruit as the catbird and mocker, but devours 

 a much larger percentage of animal food. Beetles form one-half of the animal 

 food, grasshoppers and crickets one-fifth, caterpillars, including cut-worms, 

 somewhat less than one-fifth, and bugs, spiders, and millipeds com- 

 prise most of the remainder. The l)rown thrasher feeds on such coleopterous 

 pests as wire-worms. May beetles, rice weevils, rose beetles, and figeaters. 

 By its destruction of these and other insects, which constitute more than 

 60 per cent of its food, the thrasher much more than compensates for that 

 portion (about one-tenth) of its diet derived from cultivated crops. 



