244 A WEED-DESTROYER. 



have known their nests on yew and apple trees in gardens in the 

 middle of the town of Bathgate ; but their young ones were generally 

 destroyed by cats, or boys. A pair of them built one year on a 

 balsam poplar which grew on the side of one of the streets of the 

 above-mentioned town, within a few inches of which dozens of people 

 used to pass and repass during the most part of the day. So exceed- 

 ingly tame were they that they alighted on the gutters in company 

 with the Sparrows in pursuit of their food. I know the man who 

 took the young ones out of their nest and put them in a cage, which 

 he placed in his window, where they were fed by their parents until 

 they were able to procure food for themselves. 



This bird has been known to interbreed with the Green 

 Linnet in a wild state ; in confinement, hybrids between it 

 and the Canary are not uncommon. 



Young Goldfinches, like most birds, are insectivorous, 

 being fed chiefly by their parents with caterpillars. When 

 able to leave the nest, they rove together in small flocks 

 over commons and other uncultivated lands, feeding on the 

 ripened buds of the thistle, burdock, or dandelion, with 

 chickweed, groundsel, or plantain. These are some of the 

 plants most troublesome to farmers, by whom this bird 

 ought to be regarded as a benefactor. 



Mudie says 



That each bird eats a hundred seeds every day is by no means an 

 extravagant calculation, which, however, gives to each the prevention 

 of 36,500 weeds every year. The birds cannot be numbered; but 

 when the vast flocks which are seen everywhere are considered, 

 100,000,000 must be greatly below the actual number. That would 

 give the annual prevention of weeds by Finches at the astounding 

 number, 3,650,000,000,000. Say that each weed would, upon the 

 average, occupy one square inch (and many of them occupy a hun- 

 dred square inches), and the quantity of land which the Finches 

 annually prevent from being overrun is little short of 600,000 acres, 

 or more than one seventieth part of the total surface of England and 

 "Wales, whether cultivated or not. It is true that many of the 

 Finches do not live upon seeds all the year round ; but when they 

 are not destroying the seeds of injurious vegetables, they are probably 

 still better employed in the destruction of insects. 



Who after this would agree with the dictum which pro- 

 nounces judgement on the Finch as a mischievous bird ? 

 Its very name, Carduelis, from carduus, a thistle, indicates 

 that it feeds principally on a weed which all agriculturists 

 wish to see extirpated. By some naturalists we find it is 



