American Goldfinch 125 



lardias? If so, every goldfinch in your neigh- 

 bourhood knows it and hastens there to feed on 

 the seeds of these plants as fast as they form, 

 so that you need expect to save none for next 

 spring's planting. Don't you prefer the birds 

 when flower seeds cost only five cents a packet? 

 Clinging to the slender, swaying stems, the 

 goldfinches them.selves look so like yellow 

 flowers that you do not suspect how many are 

 feasting in the garden until they are startled 

 into flight. Then away they go, bounding 

 along through the air, now rising, now falling, 

 in long aerial waves peculiar to them alone. 

 You can always tell a goldfinch by its wavy 

 course through the air. Often it accents the 

 rise of each wave as it flies by a ripple of sweet, 

 twittering notes. The yellow warbler is some- 

 times called a wild canary because he looks 

 like a canary ; the goldfinch has the same mis- 

 leading name applied to him because he sings 

 like one. 



But goldfinches by no means depend upon 

 our gardens for their daily fare. Wild lettuce, 

 mullein, dandelion, ragweed and thistles are 

 special favourites. Many weed stalks suddenly 

 blossom forth into black and gold when a flock 

 of finches alight for a feast in the summer fields, 

 or, browned by winter frost, bend beneath the 

 weight of the birds when they cling to them pro- 

 truding through the snow. 



