YELLOW -BIRD. 79 



an insistence that suggests lax family government. 

 Some one should provide him with a bundle of 

 timothy stalks ! And yet who would have our 

 fairy use the rod ? Just listen to him some day 

 as he flies away from his nest, singing over to him- 

 self in tones of exquisite love and tenderness 

 his sweet bay-bee, bay-ee-bee, and you will feel 

 that the little father has a secret better than any 

 known to the birch. 



Our goldfinch is not a musician when it comes 

 to his long song. That is a canary jumble of 

 notes whose greatest charm is its light-hearted- 

 ness. But though he is not as finished a songster 

 as the canary, during the summer he is much 

 prettier, for then his yellow suit is richly trimmed 

 with black markings. In September however he 

 loses his beauty, and until the next April or May, 

 when his perilous travels are over for the season, 

 looks much like his plain little wife. His black 

 trimmings are gone, and he has become flaxen- 

 brown above and whitish-brown below, quite 

 commonplace. 



In connection with this protective change in 

 plumage the " Naturalist " gives an interesting in- 

 stance of protective habit, in which the wise birds 

 disguised themselves by the help of their bright 

 summer coats. A flock of them were dining on 

 top of the stalks of yellow mullein that covered 

 the slope of the embankment by which the ob- 

 server and his party passed. He says: "The 



