52 



THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 



ful cadence, that their music, at times, seems " to float on the 

 distant breeze, scarcely louder than the hum of bees ;" it then 

 breaks out, as it were, into a crescendo^ which rends the air like 

 the loud song of the Canary. 



In confinement, the yellow bird soon becomes familiar and 

 reconciled, its song being nearly as animated and sonorous 

 as its transatlantic congener. According to Mr. Audubon, it is 

 extremely hardy, often remaining the whole winter in the 

 Middle States, and when deprived of liberty, will live to a great 

 age in a room or cage. " I have known two instances," says 

 he, " in which a bird of this species had been confined for 

 upwards of ten years. They were procured in the market of 

 New York, when in mature plumage, and had been caught in 

 trap cages. One of them having undergone the severe train- 

 ing, more frequently inflicted in Europe than America, and 

 known in France by the name of galerien, would draw water 

 for its drink from a glass, it having a little chain attached to a 

 narrow belt of soft leather fastened round its body, and another 

 equally light chain fastened to a little bucket, kept by its 

 weight in the water, until the little fellow raised it up with its 

 bill, placed a foot upon it, and pulled again at the chain until 

 it reached the desired fluid and drank, when, on letting go, the 

 bucket immediately fell into the glass below. In the same 

 manner, it was obliged to draw towards its bill a little charriot 

 filled with seeds; and in this distressing, occupation was 

 doomed to toil through a life of solitary grief, separated from 

 its companions, wantoning on the wild flowers, and procuring 

 their food in the manner in which nature had taught them." 



The food of the American goldfinch consists chiefly of the 

 seeds of the various species of thistles, lettuce, hemp, and sun- 

 flower; and in winter, when its more agreeable food is not 

 found in sufficient abundance, it resorts to the fruit and seeds 

 of the elder. It also collects the tender buds of trees, as well 

 as the confervas of brooks and springs, as a variety of its 

 usual fare. 



These birds occasionally do some damage to gardens by 

 their indiscriminate destruction of lettuce and flower seeds, 



