186 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Chasing now the thistle's down, 

 By the gentle zeph3'r blown ; 

 Lightly on thou wing'st thy way, 

 Always happy, always gay." 



The nest of the goldfinch is correctly described by 

 Grahame, when he says : — 



" The goldfinch weaves, with yellow down Inlaid, 

 And cannach tufts, his wonderful abode : 

 Sometimes suspended on the limber- ends 

 Of plane-tree spray, among the broad-leaved shoots. 

 The tiny hammock swings to every gale : 

 Sometimes in closest thickets 'tis conceal'd ; 

 Sometimes in hedge luxuriant, where the brier, 

 The bramble, and the plum-tree branch, 

 Warp through the thorn, surmounted by the flowers 

 Of climbing vetch and honeysuckle wild." 



One gentleman, observing a pair of goldfinches be- 

 ginning to build, saw that they had formed the ground- 

 work with moss, grass, etc. as usual ; but on his scat- 

 tering small parcels of wool in difi'erent parts of the 

 garden, they, to a great extent, left ofi" the use of their 

 own stufi", and employed the wool. He afterwards gave 

 them cotton, on which they rejected the former, and 

 proceeded with the latter : the third day he supplied 

 them with fine down, on which they finished their work 

 with this, in preference to both. The nest, when com- 

 pleted, was something larger than is usually made by 

 this bird, but it retained the pretty roundness of figure 



