INSESSORES. 341 



It feeds among the branches of the tallest Fir trees, as well as on 

 the seeds of Thistles, much in the manner of the European SISKIN, 

 on the Fringilla Spinus, (Lat. black-thorn.) Its length is a little 

 less than five inches. 



THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, or YELLOW BIRD. Carduetis, 

 (Lat. a thistle-finch,) tristis, (Lat. sad,) (see Chart,) is a well 

 known and handsome bird, similar in" its song and flight to the 

 Goldfinch. Its plumage and notes make it universally agreea- 

 ble. The Yellow Bird is abundant in the middle districts of the 

 Union, in summer, and so hardy is it, that it often remains there 

 during the whole winter. It ranges from the tropics to the 

 northern and southern regions. Its length is four and a half 

 inches. This bird feeds principally on the seeds of hemp, the 

 sun-flower, and various species of thistles. From its fondness 

 for the thistle down, it has been called the THISTLEFINCH. It is 

 sometimes kept in cages for song, and will live to a great age in 

 a cage or room. Audubon says he has known instances in 

 which birds of this species had been confined for ten years. 

 They had been taken in trap-cages, as the writer has taken 

 them, in the vicinity of New York city. This bird is not 

 only beautiful, but seems to give evidence of unusual sagacity. 

 It can be trained to draw water for its drink from a glass, and 

 when it alights on a twig covered with bird-lime, for the purpose 

 of securing it, "it no sooner discovers the nature of the treacher- 

 ous substance, than it throws itself backwards, with closed wings, 

 and hangs in this posture until the bird-lime has run out in the 

 form of a slender thread considerably below the twig, when, 

 feeling a certain degree of security, it beats its wings, and flies 

 off," and, says Audubon, from whom we now quote, "I have 

 observed Goldfinches that had escaped from me in this manner, 

 when about to alight on any twig, whether smeared with bird- 

 lime or not, flutter over it, as if to assure themselves of its being 

 safe for them to perch upon it." Its length is four and a half 

 inches. Several species of Goldfinch are found in the United 

 States. 



THE FINCHES PROPER, Fringilla, include quite a number of 

 species, among which are the SONG SPARROW, F. melodia, (Gr. 

 song,) which presents two varieties; one having spots generally 

 distributed over the breast; the other having fewer spots on the 

 breast, but a large black one in the center, appearing among us 

 even before the Pewee and Blue Bird. The SONG SPARROW is 

 the harbinger of spring; it is "the earliest, sweetest, and most 

 lasting songster." The first named variety builds its nest in 

 low shrubs a few feet from the ground ; the other builds it upon 



