THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



153 



as a "new bird to Oregon." 



SIALIA MEXICANA. Western Blueliird. 

 Appears in January and becomes common by 

 February. 



PHASIANUSTORQUATUS. Mongolian Pheas- 

 ant. Variously called Denny, Chinese, China, 

 and Ring Pheasant. Fifteen years ago this 

 bird was unknown in Oregon, but from three 

 hens and fifteen cocks turned loose in l88o, 

 and twenty eight more turned loose in 1881, 

 they have increased at such a rapid rate that 

 to- lay they are an abundant bird throughout 

 the Willamette valley. They are our most 

 common game bird during the winter, 



Arthur Lamson Pope. 



THE IMPORTED AND ACCLIMATED 

 GERMAN SONG BIRDS IN OREGON. 



By C. F. Pfluger, Sec'y of the Society of the 

 Introduction of song-birds into Oregon, at 

 Portland. 



THE GOLDFINCH OR THISTLEFINCH. 



{Fringilla carduelis, Der 



Stiglitz.) 



Of thtsi handsome birds 40 pairs were in- 

 tioduced into Oregon by the Society m 1889 

 and 1892. They have become very jilentiful 

 throughout the State, and can be seen quite 

 often on the east side of the city. 



The Goldfinch is a native of the old world, 

 and attractve from the beauty of its plumage 

 and song, is 5^ inches in length, of which the 

 tail measures 2 inches The beak is 5 lines in 

 length very sharp, and slightly bent at the 

 point, and compressed at the sides. In color 

 it is whitish, with a tinge of brown at the tips. 

 The feet are brown, slender, and 6 lines in 

 height. The front of the head is bright scarlet, 

 and a broad stripe of the same color encircles 

 the root of the beak. The jioll of the head is 

 black, and a similar stripe passes over the back 

 of the head down each side of the neck. Be- 

 hind this stripe is a white spot on both sides, 

 and the cheeks and upper part of the neck 

 are also white. The back and nape of the 

 neck are a beautiful brown; the rump whitish. 



with a tinge of brown; and the larger feathers 

 black. The sides of the breast and groin are 

 light brown; the middle of the breast, the belly, 

 and the vent, are whitish, tinged with brown. 

 The thighs are grayish, the pen feathers velvety 

 black, with tips, which becomes smaller 

 in old birds, and are sometimes wanting in the 

 first two feathers. 



The middle pen feathers are edged on the 

 outer plume — for about an inch — with bright 

 yellow; which, in conjunction with the yellow 

 tips of the hindmost large coverts, produces a 

 most beautiful bright spot on the wings. The 

 outer coverts are black, the tail is slightly fork- 

 ed, and black; the two, or, sometimes the three 

 first pen feathers, having a white spot on the 

 middle of the inner plume, and the rest being 

 tipped with white. Occasionally, also, the 

 third feather is quite black at the sides. 



The female is somewhat smaller, and almost 

 alike in plumage with that of the male. 



The Goldfinch throughout summer frequents 

 gardens, groves, and such mountainous districts 

 as are not altogether uncultivated, or are planted 

 with coniferous trees. It is not a bird of pass- 

 age, but in autumn collects in flights of at 

 most from 1 5 to 20, and makes excursions in 

 search of thistle-down; forsaking districts where 

 the snow is thick upon the ground, for others 

 where the weather is more genial. 



The food of the Goldfinch consists of various 

 species of small seed; for example, plantain, 

 chiccory, burdock, lettuce, cabbage, rape, 

 canary, and thistle seeds. 



The Gold finch prefers to build its nest, which 

 with that of the Chaffinch is among the most 

 remarkable for the strength and beauty of 

 its structure, in apple and pear trees. It is 

 semispherical, and composed of moss, lichens, 

 and fine root fibers, finely woven together, and 

 lined with wool, hair and thistle-down. 



The female lays once a year 5 to 6 pale-green 

 eggs, spotted with light red, and often sur- 

 rounded at the thick end with a circle of small 

 Hackish stripes. The young, which before 

 the first moulting are grey on the head, and 

 are fed from the crop. The males may at a 

 very early poriod be distinguished by a narrow 



