THE GOLDFINCH. 13 



enter; the other had seven. At one time, I saw 

 about a hundred birds come out of them. Instead 

 of being the nest of a single pair of birds, they 

 seemed to be towns of birds, or the property of a 

 single pair, in which they accommodate all their de- 

 scendants. A Horned Owl had taken possession of 

 the outside of the roof of the largest, for a nest. She 

 was sitting on it, and it appeared from the bones 

 and hair strewed under, that she lived upon the 

 field-mouse. The whole was neatly thatched, and 

 had a hollow in the middle to contain the Owl, but 

 no passage leading to the inside. 



Our Goldfinches partake a good deal of this sociable 

 character, for they are usually seen in little nights, 

 calling each other together, and betraying uneasi- 

 ness if separated from their friends. They are 

 also docile, easily tamed, and have occasionally been 

 known to show a certain degree of confidence in 

 man, when they found no danger to be apprehended, 

 as the following will prove. In the Spring of 1827, 

 a Goldfinch had been lost from a cage, which was 

 left hanging up, and the door open, in the passage- 

 entrance to a back court of a house in a country 

 town of the West of England; when a Goldfinch 

 was one morning found feeding in it, and the door 

 was closed upon the prisoner; but, as it appeared to 

 be a female, it was shortly after let out again. In 

 the course, however, of about two hours, it returned, 

 and re-entered the cage, when it was again, shut in, 

 and once more, after a short time, released ; and 

 these visits were repeated daily, for a considerable 

 time. She was then missing for a few days, but 

 then returned, accompanied by a male bird; when 



