Finches. 177 



insect, and, alighting on the perpendicular stalk of a 

 weed, clinging to it with one foot above another, which 

 he thought a favourite position of the bird's. My 

 Nonpareil has the same habit, and will cling to the 

 cord of the window-blind in the same manner. 



The AMERICAN GOLDFINCH (Chrysomitris or Frin- 

 gilla tristis). The American Goldfinch is so named 

 from its resemblance to our Goldfinch in habits and 

 natural food, subsisting much on thistle-seed, and flit- 

 ting about in flocks from weed to weed, twittering all 

 the time, and opening and closing its wings in the 

 same manner. It is a yellow bird, shaded and streaked 

 with dark brown ; the head is black, and the wings 

 and tail are of the same colour, but the feathers are 

 almost all edged with white. This is the male's sum- 

 mer plumage ; its colours in winter are of russet and 

 olive-green. The female has much the same hues, but 

 darker, so that they are somewhat like Siskins, and 

 about the same size. They build a beautiful nest, most 

 delicately woven, and fastened with fibres to the forked 

 branches in which it is placed, the materials being 

 thistle-down, spiders' webs, feathers, hair, and soft 

 fibres. The male's song is a twitter much like that of 

 the English Goldfinch. They may be fed on the same 

 food in confinement, and will become very tame. 



The SAFFRON FINCH (Sycalis Braziliensis) is a 

 beautiful bird, very like the Canary in size and shape : 

 the forehead is of a bright orange or saffron-colour, 



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