INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES 33 



cap, his olive-green frock, and his bright yellow vest. 

 You will see at once that he dresses differently from the 

 American goldfinch, so well known in the East, and, for 

 that matter, just as well known on the plains of Colo- 

 rado, where both species dwell in harmony. There are 

 some white markings on the wings of Spinus psaltria 

 that give them a gauze-like appearance when they are 

 rapidly fluttered. 



His song and some of his calls bear a close resem- 

 blance to those of the common goldfinch, but he is 

 by no means a mere duplicate of that bird; he has 

 an individuality of his own. While his flight is un- 

 dulatory, the waviness is not so deeply and distinctly 

 marked; nor does he sing a cheery cradle-song while 

 swinging through the ether, although he often utters a 

 series of unmusical chirps. One of the most pleasingly 

 pensive sounds heard in my western rambles was the 

 little coaxing call of this bird, whistled mostly by the 

 female, I think. No doubt it is the tender love talk 

 of a young wife or mother, which may account for its 

 surpassing sweetness. 



Every lover of feathered kind is interested in what 

 may be called comparative ornithology, and therefore I 

 wish to speak of another western form and its eastern 

 prototype Bullock's oriole, which in Colorado takes 

 the place of the Baltimore oriole known east of the 

 plains all the way to the Atlantic coast. However, 



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