156 PASSERES. FRINGILLAD^E. 



nearest patch, with undulating flight, twittering 

 as they rise : 



' Each outstretched wing 

 A fairy fan, with golden sticks adorned,' 



and thus roving in small flocks, through the 

 autumn and winter, living almost entirely on va- 

 rious seeds, particularly those of the different spe- 

 cies of thistle, they perform good service to the 

 agriculturist by consuming the prolific source of 

 many a noxious weed." * 



There is no European bird that equals the 

 Goldfinch in the beauty, compactness, and neat- 

 ness of its nest. It is often built on a fruit tree 

 in the orchard, on some small and weak branch. 

 The outer part is composed of fine moss, lichen, 

 blades of grass, fine twigs and roots, wool, cotton, 

 worsted, &c., all beautifully felted together, and 

 rounded so that no ragged ends shall project ; and 

 lined with down from the catkins of the willow, 

 with feathers and hair, made very smooth. But 

 birds in general will take the materials that they 

 can most readily obtain, provided these can be 

 adapted to their purpose. " On the 10th of May, 

 1792," remarks Bolton, " I observed a pair of 

 Goldfinches beginning to make their nest in my 

 garden ; they had formed the groundwork of moss, 

 grass, &c., as usual, but on my scattering small 

 parcels of wool in different parts of the garden, 

 they in a great measure left off the use of their 

 own stuff, and employed the wool. Afterwards I 

 gave them cotton, on which they rejected the 

 wool, and proceeded with the cotton ; the third 

 day I supplied them with fine down, on which 

 they forsook both the other, and finished their 

 * Brit. Birds,!. 541. 



