304 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Genus SPINU8 Kocii. '^ 



SPINUS TRISTIS (Linn.). 



219. American Goldfinch. (529) 



Mal(f : — 111 summer, rich yellow, changing to whitish on the tail coverts ; a 

 l)lack patch on the crown ; wings, black, more or less edged and Ijarred with 

 white ; lesser wing coverts, yellow ; tail, black, every feather with a white 

 spot ; bill and feet, flesh-colored. In September the black cap disappears and 

 the general plumage changes to a pale flaxen-brown above and whitey -brown 

 below, with traces of the yellow, especially aboiit the head ; this continues till 

 the following April or May. Female: — Olivaceous, including the crown; 

 l)elow, soiled yellowish ; wings and tail, dusky, whitish-edged ; i/oiiixj like the 

 ftinale. Length, about 4J ; wing, 2f ; tail, 2. 



Hab. — Temperate North America generally, breeding southward to the 

 middle districts of the United States (to al)out the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, 

 Kansas and California), and wintering mostly south of the northern boundarj' 

 of the United States. 



Nest, a neat, strong sti-ucture, resenilding that of the Summer Yellow-l)ird, 

 composed of miscellane'ous soft materials fliinly felted together and lined with 

 plant down, usually placed in the upright fork of a tree oi- bush, from six to 

 twenty feet from the ground. 



Eggs, four to six, pale bluish-white, unmarked. 



Ill Southern Ontario the Goldfinch may be considered a resident 

 species, for it nests throughout the country generally, and even in 

 the depth of winter, is often met with unexpectedly in some favored 

 locality where it finds food and shelter. In the severe winter of 

 1885-86, I came upon a colony of this kind in West Flamboro', where 

 several hvnidreds of the birds were frei{uenting a grove of hemlock ; 

 and, judging by the amount of debris on the suow underneath, they 

 must have been there all winter. They were very lively, keeping 

 up a continual chattering as they swayed to and fro on the slender 

 l)ranches, extracting the seeds from the cones. Occasionally, when 

 cheered by the mild rays of the wintry sun, some of the males woukl 

 come to the sunny side of the tree and warble out a few of their 

 varied summer notes, btit they spent most of the short wintry day 

 in feeding and in dressing their plumage, retiring early to the thick 

 shelter of the evergreens. 



At other seasons of the year, they frequent the cultivated fields, 

 orchards and gardens; and in the fall, when they are seen in greatest 

 numbers, they do good service in consuming tlie seeds of the thistle 

 and other noxious weeds. They are not in any great haste to begin 

 the duties of housekeeping, and are seen in fiocks till towards the 



