The Goldfinch. 259 



THE GOLDFINCH. 



(Fringilla carduelis, or Carduelis elegans.) 



THIS bird is also called the Thistlefinch, from his fondness 

 for the seeds of that plant. He is very beautiful, his 

 plumage being elegantly diversified, his form small, but 

 pleasing, and his voice not loud, but sweet. He is easily 

 tamed, and often exhibited as a captive, with a chain 

 round his body, drawing up with trouble, but yet with 

 amazing dexterity, two small buckets, alternately, one 

 containing his meat, the other his drink. If he is old when 

 caught, the Goldfinch, after a few weeks, if well attended 

 to, and gently treated, becomes as familiar as if he had been 

 brought up by the hand of his keeper. Some have been 

 taught to fire a small piece of artillery, and go through 

 the drilling exercise, to the great astonishment of the 

 spectators ; but the cruel and severe treatment that 

 animals undergo, when taught performances altogether 

 contrary to their nature, should prevent us from en- 

 couraging such exhibitions. 



This bird, as if conscious of the beauty of his plumage, 

 likes to view himself in a glass, which is sometimes fixed 

 for this purpose in the back of the cage. The art with 

 which it composes and builds its nest is really worthy 

 of admiration ; it is generally interwoven with moss, 

 small twigs, horsehair, and other pliant materials ; the 

 inside stuffed most carefully with fine down, and tufts of 

 cotton grass. There the female deposits five or bix eggs, 



