THE GOLDriNCH. 273 



spot in wliicli to place the little home whicli 

 is the object of so much skill and care, and 

 evinces so gTeat a taste in the builder for order 

 and beauty. 



We owe much to the goldfinch as well as to 

 the other finch tribe for their prevention of the 

 growth of weeds. Their young are fed on seeds 

 macerated in the crop, and these are chiefly of the 

 downy kind, which else would wing their way 

 over gardens and fields, and bring up a crop so 

 abundant, that the earth would have no room for 

 other plants. 



It is true that the goldfinch may occasionally 

 steal the seeds of some garden plant which we 

 might wish to secure ; but when we think how 

 prodigious a quantity of these downy seeds are 

 to be found in our fields and hedgerows, we may 

 indeed welcome the aid of the bird in secur- 

 ing them from dispersion. The Great Creator 

 designed doubtless many of those seeds for the 

 especial use of the fowls of the air. Thus, not to 

 mention the dandelions, and groundsels, the colts- 

 foots, and hawkweeds which everywhere abound, 

 the one family of thistles alone would supply 

 enough of its beautiful crowned seeds to overrun 



T 



