Am. Goldfinch SONG-BIRDS. 



liearing summer in their natures. ... I am struck by the 

 perfect confidence and success of Nature." 



American Goldfinch: Spiniis tristis. 



Wild Canary, Thistle-bird, Yellowbird. 

 Plate II. Fig. 18. 



Length: 4.80-5.20 inches. 



Male : Body, all but wings, tail, and frontlet, a clear gamboge-yelloio. 

 Frontlet black. Wings black, varied with white. Tail blackish 

 with spots of white on interior of quills. Bill and feet flesh- 

 coloured. In September the black frontlet of the male disap- 

 pears, his colours pale, and he resembles the female and young. 

 In April the spring moult begins, and often is not completed 

 until middle May. 



Female : Above brownish olive, below yellowish. 



Soiig : A wild, sweet, Canary-like warbling. Call note, " Ker-chee- 

 chee-chee, whew-e, whew-e ! " 



Season : Resident in this section, but the numbers increase in May 

 and diminish in October. 



Breeds : Southward to the middle districts of the United States (to 

 about the Potomac and Ohio rivers, Kansas, and California). 



Nest : Round, very neat, and compact ; of grass and moss, lined with 

 seed and plant down, usually in a branch crotch. 



Eggs: 4-6, blue-white, generally unmarked. 



Bange : North America generally, wintering mostly south of the 

 northern boundary of the United States. 



The American Goldfinch, known under many titles, is as 

 familiar as the Robin, Catbird, and Wren, but its beauty 

 and winning ways always seem new and interesting. In 

 southern Connecticut, as well as in locations further north 

 and east, it is resident, and is revealed through its various 

 disguises of plumage by its typical dipping flight. 



Its spring song begins early in April, though its plumage 

 does not resume the perfect yellow until late May ; the song 

 remains at its height all through July and well into August, 

 but ceases, almost abruptly, at the end of that month (from 

 the 20, to the 30, according to Mr. Bicknell). 



These Goldfinches do not mate until June, and sometimes 

 not until the last ludf of the month. Tliey always choose 



140 



