YELLOW - BIRD. 79 
an insistence that suggests lax family government. 
Some one should provide him with a bundle of 
timothy stalks! And yet who would have our 
fairy use the rod? Just listen to him some day 
as he flies away from his nest, singing over to him- 
self in tones of exquisite love and tenderness 
his sweet bay-bee, bay-ee-bee, and you will feel 
' that the little father has a-secret better than any 
known to the birch. 
Our goldfinch is not a musician when it comes 
to his long song. That is a canary jumble of 
notes whose greatest charm is its light-hearted- 
ness. But though he is not as finished a songster 
as the canary, during the summer he is much 
prettier, for then his yellow suit is richly trimmed 
with black markings. In September however he 
loses his beauty, and until the next April or May, 
when his perilous travels are over for the season, 
looks much like his plain little wife. His black 
trimmings are gone, and he has become flaxen- 
brown above and whitish-brown below, — quite 
commonplace. 
In connection with this protective change in 
plumage the “ Naturalist” gives an interesting in- 
stance of protective habit, in which the wise birds 
disguised themselves by the help of their bright 
summer coats. A flock of them were dining on 
top of the stalks of yellow mullein that covered 
the slope of the embankment by which the ob- 
server and his party passed. He says: “The 
