272 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



great displeasure in seeing another caressed. It 

 is also very fond of its young, and nothing A^'ill 

 interrupt the patience of the lien bird in sitting, 

 while her mate watches carefully over her, singing 

 to her from a neighbouring tree, only flying off at 

 an approaching footstep, in order to attract the 

 attention from the nest, and retui'ning to the post 

 immediately after. This elegant little structure 

 is composed externally of vegetable fibres, moss 

 and lichens; and when the down of plants or 

 wool can be procured, these are woven into a 

 compact felt, with such skill, that Knapp well 

 characterises the little architect, as " that inimit- 

 able spinner, that Arachne of the groves." The 

 neatly rounded nest is lined, and made warm 

 and comfortable by down gathered from the leaf 

 of the early coltsfoot ; or in the later year from 

 the thistle, and five or six eggs are placed there of 

 a bluish white colour, spotted ^\dtli bro^^^l towards 

 the larger end. By the time in which the gold- 

 finch builds, the leaves are thickening on the 

 trees, and the nest is hidden by them on the 

 flexible branch of the fruit-tree, where the young 

 ones are rocked, as in a cradle by the winds. 

 Sometimes a garden evergreen is selected as a 



