THE GOLDFINCH 127 



Yet the intruder does not always take the hint. 

 Occasionally the couple have a brief sparring- 

 match in the air, and mount up and up, beak to 

 beak, to a considerable height, but rarely do they 

 actually come to blows. 



The yellowbird becomes active and conspicu- 

 ous after the other birds have nearly all with- 

 drawn from the stage and become silent, their 

 broods reared and flown. August is his month, 

 his festive season. It is his turn now. The this- 

 tles are ripening their seeds, and his nest is un- 

 disturbed by jay-bird or crow. He is the first bird 

 I hear in the morning, circling and swinging 

 through the air in that peculiar undulating flight, 

 and calling out on the downward curve of each 

 stroke, " Here we go, here we go ! " Every hour 

 in the day he indulges in his circling, billowy 

 flight. It is a part of his musical performance. 

 His course at such times is a deeply undulating 

 line, like the long, gentle roll of the summer sea, 

 the distance from crest to crest or from valley to 

 valley being probably thirty feet ; this distance 

 is made with but one brief beating of the wings 

 on the downward curve. As he quickly opens 

 them, they give him a strong upward impulse, 

 and he describes the long arc with them closely 

 folded. Thus, falling and recovering, rising and 

 sinking like dolphins in the sea, he courses through 



