CHAPTER XLI. 



October 2 October 8. 



THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 



Order Passeres Suborder Oscines 



Family Fringillidse Genus Spinus / 



Species Spinus tristis. 



Length 4.45 to 5.40; wing, 2.60 to 2.90; tail, 1.80 to 2.10. 



Resident. 



"The goldfinch on a thistle head 

 Stood scattering seedlets as he fed." 



Finch, a name formerly given to many birds of the order 

 passeres, tribe conirostres and family fringillidae included a 

 numerous series of small and generally brilliant birds, with 

 short, thick, more or less conical bill, without emargination at 

 the tip. The European and American goldfinches are repre- 

 sentative members of the finch family as thus classified. The 

 European species is much larger than the American and its 

 colors are very different. It has black and golden instead of 

 black wings, and in other respects the bird is curiously marked. 

 It has been introduced into various localities in the New Eng- 

 land States. 



As its name indicates, the American goldfinch is a bird of 

 America ; and this is not all, for it is a bird of North America, 

 and not a migrant. Its range extends throughout the United 

 States and the more southern British provinces, east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, north to Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and 



229 



