popular Stctionarn of &mmatctt $nturr. 271 



edged on the interior sides with reddish 

 brown : legs inclining to greenish blue. In 

 the spring and summer the Godwit resides 

 in the fens and marshes, where it rears its 

 young ; but when the winter sets in with 

 severity, it seeks the salt-marshes and sea- 

 shores. 



The RED GODWIT. (Limosa rt</a.) This 

 species is not very common in Great Britain, 

 but is found in the north of Europe, and is 

 very plentiful in the fenny parts of North 

 America, about Hudson's Bay, &c. It is 

 larger than the Common Godwit, and is 

 distinguished from it by the redness of its 

 plumage ; the head, breast, and sides being 

 a bright ferruginous red, streaked on the 

 head with brown, and marbled on the breast 

 and sides with dusky, cinereous, and white ; 

 neck plain dull rusty red. The back, sca- 

 pulars, greater and lesser coverts, are greyish 

 brown ; on the former, some of the feathers 

 are barred and streaked with black and ru- 

 fous, edged with pale reddish white ; and a 

 bar of wliite is formed across each wing by 

 the tips of the greater coverts. The under 

 parts are white, slightly spotted with brown. 

 The legs are dusky, and bare considerably 

 above the knees. Its flesh is reckoned de- 

 licious. 



There are also the Great American God- 

 wit, the Cinereous Godwit, the Black-tailed 

 Godwit, the Red-breasted Godwit, &c., all 

 more or less resembling the species above 

 described. 



GOLDEN-EYE [BUTTERFLY]. The 

 name given by collectors to Butterflies of the 

 species Hipparchia pamphilus. 



GOLDEN WASPS, or GOLDEN- 

 TAILED FLIES. (CTrj/sis.) The popular 

 names for a tribe of Ilymenopterous insects, 

 which in the richness of their colours are said 

 to " vie with the Humming-birds." They may 

 be observed walking, but in a constant agita- 

 tion and with great agility, upon walls and 

 palings exposed to the heat of the sun. 

 They are also found upon flowers. The body 

 is elongated and covered with a solid skin ; 

 the hind wings are not veined, but the ovi- 

 positor is formed by the terminal segments 

 of the abdomen, and terminated by a small 

 sting i the antennae are filiform, elbowed, 

 and vibratile. The abdomen, which in the 

 female appears to be formed of only three 

 or four segments, is flattened or vaulted 

 beneath, and capable of being folded against 

 the breast, when the insect assumes an 

 orbicular form. They deposit their eggs in 

 the nests of Solitary Mason-bees, or other 

 Ilymeiioptera, their larvae destroying those 

 of these insects. [See CHRYSIDID.*.] 



GOLDFINCH. (Fi-ingillacarduelis.-) Of 

 all the British Finches, none equal the Gold- 

 finch in brilliant plumage and docility; hence 

 it is one of those most frequently kept in cap- 

 tivity ; for though its song is soft and pleas- 

 ing, it is deficient in power. Its length, 

 from the tip of the bill to the end of the 

 tail, is five inches and a half j and the 

 greatest expansion of its wings is nine 

 niches. The bill is wliite, tipped with black ; 



the forehead and chin a rich scarlet, which 

 is divided by a black line passing from each 

 corner of the bill to the eyes ; the cheeks 

 are white ; top of the head black, that colour 

 extending downward from the nape on each 

 side ; the back, rump, and breast are of a 

 fine pale tawiiy brown colour ; belly white ; 

 the wings and tail are black, but the points 

 of the primaries in both are white ; a beau- 

 tiful yellow stripe runs across the wings : 

 the tail feathers are black, with a white spot 

 on each near the end ; legs pale flesh red. 

 The male is distinguished from the female 

 by the leathers on the ridges of the wings, 

 which are of a deep black colour ; while 

 those of the hen are a dusky brown ; and the 

 black and yellow in the wings of the latter 

 are less brilliant than in those of the male. 

 The nest of the Goldfinch is small, but ex- 



tremely beautiful ; the outside consists of 

 very fine moss curiously interwoven with 

 wool, hair, and other materials ; and the 

 inside is lined with the down of thistles and 

 other soft and delicate substances. The nest 

 is often found in an orchard, large garden, 

 or plantation, in an apple or pear tree, or 

 carefully placed in some thick evergreen 

 shrub somewhere in the neighbourhood of 

 Man, but not immediately within his view. 

 The bird lays five or six white eggs, marked 

 with deep purple spots at the larger end. 

 They feed their young with caterpillars and 

 insects ; and the old birds feed on various 

 kinds of seeds, particularly those of the 

 thistle, dandelion, and groundsel. 



Goldfinches are more esaily tamed than 

 other birds j and so reconciled will they in 

 time become to their imprisonment in cages, 

 that they appear as if in reality attached 

 to them. If a young Goldfinch is brought 

 up under a canary, a wood-lark, or any 

 other singing-bird, it will readily catch their 

 song. Goldfinches breed with the Canary 5 

 this intermixture, says Bewick, succeeds 

 best between the cock Goldfinch and the hen 

 Canary, whose offspring are productive, and 

 are said to resemble the male in the shape 

 of the bill, and in the colours of the head 

 and wings, and the hen in the rest of the 

 body. Beauty of plumage, observes Buffon, 

 melody of song, sagacity, and docility of 

 disposition, seem all united in this charming 

 little bird, which were it rare, and imported 

 from a foreign country, would be more liighly 

 valued. 



