NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Adjusting its plumage. Nests. 



derfully delighted with viewing themselves in a 

 glass, fixed to the back of their bucket-board, 

 where they will sit upon their perch, pruning 

 and dressing themselves with the greatest care 

 imaginable, often looking in the glass, and plac- 

 ing every feather in the nicest order ; no capricious 

 female can take greater pains, or be more parti- 

 cular in dressing herself, than this little bird is in 

 rectifying all disorders in its plume, not suffering 

 a feather to lie amiss. 



The goldfinch is a very healthy bird, seldom 



out of order, and begins to build in April, when 



the fruit-trees are in blossom: as they excel 



all our small birds in beauty of feathers, so do 



they likewise in art: their nest is not only very 



small, but exceedingly pretty : the outside con- 



sists of very fine moss, curiously interwoven with 



other soft bedding; the inside lined with delicate 



fine down, wool, &c. She lays five or six white- 



eggs, speckled and marked with a reddish brown. 



To find their nest is not very easy, for they ge- 



nerally build in fruit-trees, viz. apple, pear, 



plumb, &c. but most commonly in the apple, 



pretty high upon the branches, where either the 



blossom or leaves secure them from discovery, 



and at such a time when they cannot be got :it 



without the hazard of damaging the bloom or 



young fruit. They sometimes build in the elder- 



tree; and sometimes in thorn hedges; but not 



near so common as in fruit-trees. 



As they are tender birds, they should not be 



