THE GOLDFINCH. 43 



the base of the beak; the chin and reins, black; the vertex 

 black, terminating in a stripe, which passes the back of the 

 head, and descends the neck on each side ; on the top of the 

 neck, there is a white spot ; the cheeks and front of the neck, 

 white ; the back of the neck and back are of a beautiful 

 brown ; the rump whitish, with a brownish tinge ; the longer 

 feathers are black; both sides of the breast and the flanks of a 

 bright-brown; the middle of the breast, the belly, and the 

 vent, whitish, many of the feathers having a brownish tinge ; 

 the thighs, greyish; the pinion feathers, velvet-black, with 

 whitish tips, which are smallest in old birds, and are sometimes 

 wanting in the first two feathers; the middle of the external 



THE GOLDFINCH. 



web with a golden-colored stripe an inch long, which, in con- 

 junction with the golden yellow tips of the hinder large coverts, 

 forms a beautiful spot; the coverts otherwise black ; the tail 

 slightly forked and black; the two, and sometimes the first 

 three pinion feathers having a white spot in the centre of the 

 inner web ; the rest with white tips ; sometimes also the third 

 is likewise entirely black at the sides. 



The female is a little smaller, not so broadly and beautifully 

 red about the beak ; the chin brownish ; the cheeks intermixed 

 with bright-brown ; the small coverts of the wings, brown, and 

 the back of a deeper dark-brown. 



BREEDING. 



The female goldfinch rarely lays more than once a-year, 



4 (consequently these birds do not greatly multiply,) and then 



