THE GREENFINCH AND GOLDFINCH. 199 



consumed. I see them usually in pairs in the winter 

 time, sometimes in little parties, on the commons, around 

 the tangled weed-choked hedgerows, and especially 

 where thistles and docks are abundant. The thistles are 

 a favourite place for the Goldfinch, and where those 

 beautiful though unwelcome weeds are found, the birds 

 congregate for the purpose of feeding on the seeds, and 

 their actions at these times and the variety of attitudes 

 they assume form a pleasing animated sight. They 

 perch on the thistle's feathery crown, and deftly obtain 

 the seeds, the down fluttering away on the breeze. I'hey 

 cling to the dock stems, and with sharp twittering notes 

 eject the seeds, and then in graceful airy flight sally off in 

 search of more. They are not shy birds, provided you do 

 not greatly alarm them, and they will often allow you to 

 witn^jss their operations but a few yards away. 



The song of the Goldfinch, heard in early April, is 

 loud and sweet, and its merits are such that the bird is 

 in the greatest request by the bird fancier. His song, 

 too, is said to be improved by confinement ; but I 

 myself would far rather see him flitting from stem to 

 stem before me, and hear his pleasing song, speaking of 

 liberty and free as air, than confine him, even though by 

 so doing I could make his notes sweeter than those of 

 any other songster. 



The Goldfinch is rather a late breeder. In the 

 month of May, sometimes not until early June, we find 

 his nest. It is often amongst the evergreens, hanging 

 suspended from a drooping bough ; sometimes it is in 

 the fruit trees in the orchard, or in the hawthorn hedges. 

 The nest is not so neatly built as that of the Chaffinch, 

 nor is it so slovenly as the nest of the Greenfinch. It 

 is made of grasses, rootlets, and moss, and lined with 

 hair and feathers, and the down from various plants, as 



