GOLDFINCH 



2528 



GOLDFISH 



in moist woods, in swamps and peat bogs or 

 in cultivated gardens. There are about a 

 hundred species, some of the commonest being 

 the early goldenrod, often dried for interior 



Because its myriad glimmering plumes 

 Like a great army's stir and wave ; 

 Because its golden billow blooms, 



The poor man's barren walks to lave : 

 Because its sun-shaped blossoms show 



How souls receive the light of God, 

 And unto earth give back that glow 

 I thank Him for the Goldenrod. 



LUCY LARCOM : Goldenrod. 



decoration; the large, handsome Canada gold- 

 enrod; the showy seaside goldenrod, and the 

 lance-leaved or fragrant goldenrod. 



Various species of this flower are valued as 

 forage. The Canada goldenrod yields a strong 

 fiber, but it is not used commercially. The 

 leaves of another species, the sweet goldenrod 

 or Blue Mountain tea, have been used as tea 

 and yield an oil employed in medicine as a 

 tonic. A few species are found in Great Brit- 

 ain and Europe. 



GOLD 'FINCH, a joyous little songster of 

 Eastern North America, about the size of the 

 canary and, like that sweet singer, cheerily 

 clothed in bright yellow. The goldfinch re- 

 joices also in black wings and a black crown 

 and tail, the latter varied with markings of 

 white and gray. Its gay and ringing notes 

 per-chic-o-ree, per-chic-o-ree are uttered with 

 a joyous abandon that the cage bird can never 

 equal. These merry songsters nest from 

 Southern Manitoba, Central Quebec and New- 

 foundland south to Eastern Colorado, South- 

 ern Oklahoma, Central Arkansas and North- 

 ern Georgia, wintering over most of their 



breeding range and as far south as the Gulf 

 of Mexico. The nest, made of grass, bark and 

 moss and lined with thistledown, is placed in 

 a tree or bush. Three to six pale, bluish eggs 

 are laid in June or July. The birds love to 

 seek their food, the seed-bearing plants, in the 

 field and garden, where "the old sunflowers rat- 

 tle before their vigorous attack and the thistles 

 spring into sudden blossom of black and gold 

 as they swing from the nodding heads." The 

 goldfinch's span of life is about fifteen years. 



The European goldfinch, which resembles its 

 American cousin in habits, is cinnamon-brown 

 on the back, and has a black crown, black 

 wings marked with yellow, a black tail and 

 white underparts. About the base of the bill 

 is an area of bright red. It ranges throughout 

 Europe except in the regions farthest north, 

 and a few specimens have been seen in .New 

 Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. Its 

 eggs, four or five in number, are white, marked 

 with purple. This bird is a favorite cage 

 songster in European homes. 



GOLDFISH, a species of carp, kept in 

 aquariums for their beauty in nearly all civil- 

 ized parts of the world. Thousands of years 

 ago all of this species were of greenish color, 

 but one day, in China, several of rather golden 



THREE FORMS OF GOLDFISH 



hue were noticed in a pond. So through care- 

 ful breeding of these, and through selection, a 

 new race of fish was started, and in China the 

 rearing of goldfish has become a science. From 



