JO The Goldfinch 



on the inner web ; under parts niostl}' white ; a band across tlie fore-chest, the 

 sides of breast, and tlie flanks bright fawn-coloured ; under tail-coverts washed 

 witli l)iiffish ; beak pinkish-white, with the terminal half of the upper mandible 

 and tip of the lower mandible dark horu-browu ; feet flesh-brown ; iris hazel. In 

 confinement the beak and feet become paler and more pink in tint. 



The female is nsuall}' .slightly smaller than the male, has a narrower crown, 

 and a much narrower, straighter, and more regularly tapering beak ; the crimson 

 on the head rarely extends quite so fi^r backward on the forehead and throat ; the 

 checks are much more stained with buff-brownish ; the lesser coverts are distinctl}' 

 browner ; the yellow on the wing is rarely so brilliant ; upper tail coverts less 

 white, more mouse-brown, sometimes wholly of that colour ; and the under parts 

 are not quite so pure a white, showing a suspicion of grey when compared with 

 the male. Young birds, known to bird-catchers as " Gre3'-pates," show no black 

 or crimson on the head, have huffish tips to the wing-feathers, and brownish 

 underparts, with indistinct spotting on the breast. The general characteristics of 

 the adult birds are acquired after the first moult, but the full beauty of the species 

 is not brought out until after its second moult. 



Birdcatchers always distinguish the sex of the Goldfinch by " the colour of 

 the shoulder," intense black in the male, rusty black in the female : this, however, 

 is not so eas}- to note in j-oung birds as is the diff"erent outline of the beak when 

 seen from above, or the greater arch of the culmen in the male beak when seen 

 from the side. The width of the yellow belt across the secondaries is even more 

 easy to note*. 



Although the Goldfinch does not haunt the interior of thick woods, it frequently 

 hangs about the more open spaces on their outskirts, especially where rank weeds 

 such as thistles, teasels, or plantains abound, upon the seed of which it delights 

 to feed ; but orchards, shrubberies, gardens, and waste patches on badly cultivated 

 ground are its favourite resorts in the summer time ; whilst in the winter it 

 wanders throughout the country in small or large flocks seeking for food. A 

 considerable number of Goldfinches, nevertheless, joins the stream of migrants to- 

 wards the south in the autumn months. 



The Goldfinch is certainly much rarer in our islands than it former!}' was, 

 but I cannot think even Mr. Swaysland's statement — that at one time a boy could 

 catch forty dozen in a morning, or the undoubted fact that birdcatchers would 

 rejoice if they could do so now, will at all account for the great diminution in 

 their numbers ; the continual reckless destruction of all kinds of birds of prey 

 would probably counterbalance the numbers obtained bN' 'catchers, who onl}- capture 



* See inv little book "How to Sex Cage-birds," p. 40. 



