The Birds and Poets 117 



varied melody, one of the most exquisite and dainty 

 of bird songs. England's poet laureate, Robert 

 Bridges, describes the song and flight of the 

 "yellow bird" in these delicately beautiful lines: 



"What have I seen or heard? 



It was the yellow-bird 

 Sang in the tree : he flew 



A flame against the blue; 

 Upward he flashed. Again, 



Hark! 'Tis his heavenly strain. 



Another ! Hush ! Behold 



Many like boats of gold, 

 From waving branch to branch 



Their airy bodies launch. 

 What music is this, 



Where each note is a kiss? 



How the delicious notes 



Come bubbling from their throats! 

 Full and sweet, how they are shed 



Like round pearls from a thread! 

 The motions of their flight 



Are wishes of delight." 



Seed-bearing plants and thistles furnish them 

 with their favorite food of tiny seeds, and the 

 abundance of this food supply in July and August 

 probably accounts for their delay in nesting until 

 late summer. I once found a nest of the goldfinch, 

 with young, as late as the third of September. 



