100



Dr. A. G. Butler,



frequently, if not invariably, distinctly shorter than the others; *

the black colouring of the wing and especially at the bend, upon

which bird-catchers usually rely in distinguishing the sexes, some¬

times leads experts astray when dealing with young birds (grey-

pates) ; but, in fully adult birds, the bend of the wing in the male

is either intense black or glossed with green ; whereas in the female

it is rusty black: my little hook “ How to sex Cage-Birds ” with

coloured plate facing p. 38 and the block illustrating the wings on

p. 40 clearly shows these distinctions.


In disposition the Goldfinch is a restless bird and he delights

in picking things to pieces; if he cannot utilize this impulse in ex¬

tracting the seeds of thistle, teazle, sow-thistle, groundsel or dande¬

lion, it is well to provide him with millet sprays and flowering

grasses, which are an equal attraction to him ; otherwise he will

occupy his time in picking off the buds and leaves from shrubs

or trees growing in his aviary. I think it is chiefly the lack of

such means of employing his restlessness which induces a cock

goldfinch when confined in a small breeding-cage to interfere with

its wife’s nest and pierce her eggs. In a fair-sized flight-cage, where

groundsel could he twisted in the wires at a distance of only about

a foot from the nest, I did not find that the nest or eggs were

interfered with.


It is not a spiteful bird, and although it is selfish enough

when feeding to attempt to drive away all others from the food-pan

by springing at them with open beak, fluttering wings, and the

opprobious term—“ chit,” it does not actually attack them, and if

they resist, it flies away until the place has again become vacant,


Although less easily tamed, because not quite so confiding, as

the European siskin, the goldfinch is not naturally a nervous bird;

and though confinement in a small cage soon renders it very wild

and timid I find that where it has plenty of space for flight it shows

less fear of a human intruder into the enclosure where it lives than

many other birds ; indeed I discovered some years ago that whereas

goldfinches purchased from a shop, which had been confined in small



* I think this is a constant character, but considerable variation in the

abbreviation of the yellow streak raises a doubt as to its value without further

confirmation.



