THE GOLDFINCH. 239 



mouse. The whole was neatly thatched, and had a 

 hollow in the middle to contain the Owl, but no passage 

 leading to the inside. 



Our Goldfinches partake a good deal of this sociable 

 character, for they are usually seen in little flights call- 

 ing each other together, and betraying uneasiness if 

 separated from their friends. They are also docile, 

 easily tamed, and have occasionally been known to show 

 a certain degree of confidence in man, when they found 

 no danger to be apprehended, as the following will 

 prove. In the spring of 1827, a Goldfinch had been 

 lost from a cage which was left hanging up, and the 

 door open, in the passage-entrance to a back court of a 

 house in a country town in the West of England ; when 

 a Goldfinch was one morning found feeding in it, and 

 the door was closed upon the prisoner; but, as it ap- 

 peared to be a female, it was shortly after let out again. 

 In the course, however, of about two hours it returned, 

 and re-entered the cage, when it was again shut in, and 

 once more, after a short time, released; and these visits 

 were repeated daily, for a considerable time. She 

 was then missing for a few days, but then returned, 

 accompanied by a male bird; when she entered the cage 

 and fed as usual, leaving her companion, who appeared 

 rather more shy, sitting on the outside wires- of the 

 cage, from whence he shortly flew to a neighbouring 

 tree, until she joined him. They then went away, and 

 were absent so long that nobody thought anything more 

 about them; when, at the end of seven or eight weeks, 

 she again made her appearance, accompanied not only 

 by her former companion, but by four full-grown young 

 ones, when she entered the cage and fed as usual. But 

 as she could not persuade her brood to follow her ex- 

 ample, she finally went off, and from that time was 

 never seen again. 



Small birds seldom live above eight or ten years, but 

 Goldfinches have been known to live sixteen or eighteen 

 years. We have the authority of a very eminent natu- 



