110 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



out our welcome or consent, and regaling himself with 

 the stores of seeds. In the extremely heated season, when 

 most songsters are either silent or heard only at early 

 morning or at dusk, the goldfinch twitters his merriest 

 ditties as he floats overhead on imaginary billows, or 

 chants gayly by the roadside from a mullein spike, or in 

 the garden from lettuce or sunflower stalk. Later in the 

 fall, when one by one the birds of our summer rambles are 

 missed, the thistle-bird becomes more abundant than ever, 

 with no thought of forsaking us to seek a more pleasant 

 clime. How can we fail to admire his joyful ways, his 

 sympathetic plaint, and his fine hardihood! 



In the season of their greatest animation and song, we 

 may hear the merry creatures almost at any time and at 

 any place. Into our gardens they bound with joyous 

 calls, and, swinging on the heads of the lettuce and radish 

 stalks that were overlooked and are now ripening with 

 seed, they chatteringly manifest their relish for the 

 downy pistils; or upon the larger disks of the sunflowers, 

 now turning black with their juicy akenes, they swing on 

 the roughened rims, and pick out the crowded contents. 

 Even as we pass along the roadside, we hear their calls 

 as we near them, and see them balancing on the heads of 

 the thistles growing plentiful Ij^ beside the road, pulling 

 out the cotton-trimmed seeds in pretty manner, and sow- 

 ing them upon the breeze, desiring them either to line 

 their gossamer-covered homes or to feed to their tender 

 nestlings. 



The male and the female are usually together, unless 

 the delicate pale-blue treasures demand the brooding of 

 the mistress over her home. Arm in arm they travel over 

 their extensive domains, whiling away the hours, or seek- 

 ing the best of the bountiful store now spread for their 

 taking. As becomes these gay revelers of the late sum- 

 mer, they are seen in their brightest robes; and as we see 

 them seated in the strong sunlight on adjacent heads of 

 thistle, we can observe the striking attire of our little 

 friends. They both have nearly the same rich lemon 

 dress, though the back of the female is darker. The yel- 

 low of the male furnishes a rich background for the jet 

 trimmings of his suit; and the black wings, tail, and 



