34 THE GOLDFINCH 



combine to make it a most impetuous and irresistible 

 charmer. 



Chaimniit. jeuno. triiinanl tons les coeurs apres soi 



Of course 1 am speaking ol the male only ; for the plu- 

 mage of the female is (lullcr and her habits moie peaceful. 

 She is the tvpc of a housewife who loves hei' home, and 

 she hardly ever leaves her carefully interwoven nest. This 

 nest is at the same time solid and comfortable ; outside, it 

 is made of fine moss, lichen and thistle buns, (he whole 

 interwoven with small roots; inside, it is like a soft elastic 

 cushion made of hair, dry grass, feathers and wool. 

 Goldfinches like to sus|)end their nests on to the most 

 flexible boughs of fruit trees, so that the slightest breeze 

 swings their aerial home gently to and fro. Sometimes, 

 however, they build their nests on more steady ground, 

 such as the hollow of a bush or the heart of a clumj) of 

 green . 



Last spring, I found two such nests built close toge- 

 ther in the entangled boughs of some ivy covering an old 

 garden wall. Each nest contained seven young ones, 

 — seven greedy mouths which opened wide as soon as 

 you put aside the ivy leaves. The two families seemed 

 to be intimately united. Towards evening, the males 

 would come together on a neighbouring lawn, smooth 

 ing their feathers and waibling tluMr song with (juainl 

 uiutions of the head, just as respectable lowns'people 



