82 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
we hear. He also stays very late in the fall, and 
about New York some of them stay all winter. 
Their food being the seeds of weeds, which are 
always to be found, they do not need to migrate. 
The song sparrow has a sweet and cheery 
voice, and a variety of songs, and he sings a 
great deal. I have heard one bird sing six dif- 
ferent songs, standing on a fence in plain sight 
all the time. Some of the songs are charming, 
and all are pleasant to hear. One never tires of 
song-sparrow music. 
The second branch of this family — the 
Finches — have some brighter colored members, 
the goldfinch in brilliant lemon-yellow, and the 
purple finch in crimson and white. 
The Gouprincu, called also the thistle-bird, 
lettuce-bird, and wild canary, is a charming fel- 
low, dressed, as I said, in lemon color, with black 
wings and tail and cap. His mate is in olive 
brown. He is the most delightful of singers, 
with a sweet voice, and is acommon bird all over 
the country. He flies in great waves, uttering 
a cheery little warble as he goes over each airy 
wave. 
The nest is one of the prettiest we have, in 
an upright crotch, and furnished with a bed of 
thistledown an inch thick for the baby gold- 
