EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH. 89 



The effect which one of these little gems of nature, flying wild near London, 

 produced on the mind of a poetic, dreamy lover of the bird, is described as fol- 

 lows : 



"Take this old rustic settee, and place in the shade of the bow-apple tree, and 

 let's forget there's such a building as the London National Gallery : ah ! we do for- 

 get, and even Laudseer's Dogs are out of Memory's Avenue for the nonce, as from 

 a hiding in the shrubberies a song, now a double song, floats. ' How delightful ! r 

 she exclaimed : those staccato notes, then the trills, now the disconnected warblings ; 

 a strange intermingling of varied notes, so striking in contrast, and yet, as a whole, 

 so admirable, like a necklace of frosted gold and diamonds alternating, each 

 adding beauty to each. Now the singer hops into sight, a Goldfinch, beautifully 

 marked and ornamented." 



In addition to his beautiful qualities above described, his intelligence is some- 

 thing wonderful, and is but rarely equalled in any variety of the bird-race. After 

 once overcoming the bird's natural shyness, and obtaining his confidence, the task of 

 teaching the cunning and even difficult tricks which he is capable of learning to per- 

 form is an easy matter. The bird must be taught to know but one master, and as 

 soon as acquainted with him, by means of a dainty, in the shape of hemp-seed, 

 will gradually eat from the hand : and the successive tricks of teaching him to eat 

 from the mouth, and to climb the ladder, by making him perch on the forefinger of 

 one hand, and climb to that of the other, by raising it above the one on which he 

 is perched, and so on, until he has mounted many rounds, will be succeeded by the 

 more difficult ones of firing off miniature cannon, and playing a tiny barrel-organ, 

 in which he places himself on duty in the treadmill to produce the harmonious 

 sounds. Feigning death, and feeding himself, and furnishing his own drinking- 

 water, by drawing his seed from a trough supplied with a quantity of it on a tiny 

 wheelbarrow, and drawing his drinking-water from a miniature well, placed beneath 

 the platform of his cage, in " Old Oaken Bucket " style, by means of a small chain 

 attached to a thimble, these and many other difficult tricks he performs with 

 apparent pleasure ; and the training which he undergoes interferes in no way with 

 his pretty song. He bears the same relation to the bird-race, in his special line 

 of training, that the trained Bullfinch bears to it in the art of music. 



When thoroughly trained, the Goldfinch thinks but little of his freedom, and 

 evinces his displeasure if his master does not attend to his daily duties in the way 

 of caresses, and bestowing upon him his usual dainties. He will perch on his 

 owner's finger, and insert his sharp little beak between the lips in search of a 

 hidden hemp-seed ; although he may perform this pleasant trick with due respect 

 to the one whom he loves, if a stranger should attempt it with him, he would be apt 

 to administer such a vicious dig on the lip with his needle-like beak, that the stranger 

 would think that the blow was given for the purpose of sewing his lips together. 



In confinement the Goldfinch should be fed on maw or poppy seeds, mixed with. 

 a third portion of either hemp or canary seeds. Lettuce, sweet apple, or ripe fruits 

 of any kind, should be given him three times each week : he is also fond of scraped 

 beef, which may be given about once a week. The daily bath is the Goldfinch's 

 greatest luxury ; and he enjoys his plunge, and the after arrangements of complet- 

 ing his toilet, with the greatest pleasure. He is a proud little fellow ; and the dis- 



