76 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 
XX. 
YELLOW-BIRD ; AMERICAN GOLDFINCH ; THISTLE- 
BIRD. 
THROW yourself down among the buttereups 
and daisies some cloudless summer day and look 
up at the sky till its wondrous blueness thrills 
through you as an ecstacy. Then catch your 
breath and listen, while out of the air comes a 
clear fluid note of rapture. Ah! there is the 
little goldfinch — a bit of the sun’s own gold — 
sauntering through the air, rising and falling to 
| 
oe rey 
the rhythm cf his own | | if 4 | This way and 
dee-ree dee-ee-ree. 
that he flits, at each call fluttering his wings and 
then letting himself float down on the air. Spring 
up from the meadow and follow him till down 
from the blue sky he comes to alight airily on a 
pink thistle-top. Then as he bends over and 
daintily plucks out the tiny seeds that would soon 
have been ballooning through the air, you can ad- 
mire the glossy black cap, wings, and tail that 
touch off his slender gold form. 
Who would ever take this fairy-like beauty for 
a cousin of our plain chippy and song sparrow ? 
And yet — his bill and size and family traits 
are the same. Pigeon-hole No. 4 was marked 
“finches, sparrows, ete.,” and he is one of the 
