THE GOLDFINCH. 213 



are to be met with in considerable numbers. The French 

 name, Chardonneret, denotes " a frequenter of thistles," 

 and the ancient Greek and Latin name for it, Acanthis, is 

 of similar import ; the Acanthis, Pliny tells us,* bears 

 animosity against no living creature but the donkey, a beast 

 which eats the flowers of thistles, and so deprives it of its 

 food. To this dietary it adds the seeds of dandelions, cen- 

 taury and other weeds, but shows a decided preference for 

 the seeds of the compound flowers. Its nest is among the 

 most beautiful that birds construct. One now before me 

 is placed among the terminal branches cut from the bough 

 of a Scotch fir which grew at an elevation of about twenty 

 feet from the ground. It is encircled by upwards of a 

 dozen leafy twigs which unite beneath its base, and form 

 both a firm support and effectual shelter. The substance 

 is composed of tufted white lichens (Usnea and Evernia), 

 and a few fine roots and wiry stems of garden-thyme, 

 felted together with wool so securely, that it is scarcely 

 possible to remove one of them without damaging the 

 whole. With these is intermixed a piece of worsted, and 

 a thread of sewing cotton ; a few horse-hairs succeed, and 

 the whole of the interior is thickly matted with the white 

 silky down of the coltsfoot. Other nests vary in the 

 materials employed, moss being sometimes used instead of 

 white lichen, and willow-cotton or feathers instead of 

 the down of the coltsfoot. Thistle-down is sometimes 

 named as the material of the lining ; but this must be 

 under unusual circumstances, that substance being gene- 

 rally unattainable in spring. Besides fir-trees, the apple 

 and elm are often selected by Goldfinches to build their 

 nests in, and they not unfrequently resort to any low 

 tree in a hedge or shrubbery. In autumn, Goldfinches 

 assemble in flocks of from ten to twenty or more, and 

 resort to waste places, or the borders of fields, where 

 thistles abound, and it is hard to imagine a prettier sight 



* Nat. Hist. lib. x. cap. Ixxiv. 



