36 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



like that of a hundred httle wicker cages of canaries 

 suddenl}^ uncovered by a bird fancier. AYhere did they 

 come from? Ten minutes before none were there. 

 Ten minutes later they were gone again. Tliey were 

 the first that I had seen this spring, and the few 

 minutes that I watched them seemed to jump the cal- 

 endar from April to the middle of summer. This 

 habit of congregational singing seems to belong ])artic- 

 ularly to the gold finches. 'None of the other oscines 

 indulge in it to any extent. The concert of the black- 

 birds is merely a recital. 



The yellow birds generally remain in flocks until 

 near the middle of summer, when they separate in pairs 

 to begin nesting. Then a " new song is put into their 

 mouths." The solos commence, and are entirely differ- 

 ent from the choruses of the early season. After this 

 time, one associates them with the purple thistles of 

 the pastures, the silky pods of the milkweeds by the 

 country roads, and the waving fields of flax with blue 

 blossoms and shining seed bolls. 



The gold finches follow civilization, and are found 

 sparingly in newly settled parts of the country, and 

 not beyond the frontier. 



With the exceptions of the cedar birds they are the 

 latest in the season to nest, seldom beginning till 

 July, when the leaves are thickest. Building materials 

 are then more plentiful, and the soft, milky seeds, 

 most suitable for the young, are more easily obtained. 

 Last year at Portage I found a brood of half -fledged 

 birds the 20th day of September. In the city, 



