220 THE GOLDFINCH. 



in circumference, and the other three, and about a yard in 

 depth. They were bu^lt of coarse grass. One of these nests 

 had seventeen holes in the bottom, by which the birds enter ; 

 the other had seven. At one time, I saw about a hundred 

 birds come out of them. Instead of being the nest of a single 

 pair of birds, they seemed to be towns of birds, or the property 

 of a single pair, in which they accommodate all their de- 

 scendants. A Horned Owl had taken possession of the out- 

 side of the roof of the largest for a nest. She was sitting on 

 it, and it appeared, from the bones and hair strewed under, 

 that she lived upon the field-mouse. The whole was neatly 

 thatched, and had a hollow in the middle to contain the Owl, 

 but no passage leading to the inside. 



Our Goldfinches partake a good deal of this sociable 

 character, for they are usually seen in little flights calling 

 each other together, and betraying uneasiness if separated 

 from their friends. They are also docile, easily tamed, and 

 have occasionally been known to show a certain degree of 

 confidence in man, when they found no danger to be appre- 

 hended, as the following will prove. In the spring of 1827, 

 a Goldfinch had been lost from a cage which was left 

 hanging up, and the door open, in the passage -entrance to a 

 back court of a house in a country town in the West of 

 England ; when a Goldfinch was one morning found feeding 

 in it, and the door was closed upon the prisoner ; but, as it 

 appeared to be a female, it was shortly after let out again. 

 In the course, however, of about two hours it returned, and 

 re-entered the cage, when it was again shut in, and once 

 more, after a short time, released; and these visits were 

 repeated daily, for a considerable time. She was then missing 

 for a few days, but then returned, accompanied by a male 

 bird ; when she entered the cage and fed as usual, leaving 

 her companion, who appeared rather more shy, sitting on the 

 outside wires of the cage, from whence he shortly flew to a 

 neighbouring tree, until she joined him. They then went 

 away, and were absent so long that nobody thought anything 

 more about them ; when, at the end of seven or eight weeks, 

 she again made her appearance, accompanied not only by her 



