14 THE GOLDFINCH. 



she entered the cage and fed as usual, leaving her 

 companion, who appeared rather more shy, sitting 

 on the outside wires of the cage, from whence he 

 shortly flew to a neighbouring tree, until she joined 

 him. They then went away, and were absent so 

 long, that nobody thought anything more about 

 them; when, at the end of seven or eight weeks, 

 she again made her appearance, accompanied not 

 only by her former companion, but by four full- 

 grown young ones, when she entered the cage and 

 fed as usual. But as she could not persuade her 

 brood to follow her example, she finally w r ent off, 

 and from that time was never seen again. 



Small birds seldom live above eight or ten years, 

 but Goldfinches have been known to live sixteen or 

 eighteen years. We have the authority of a very 

 eminent naturalist*, for one having attained to the 

 age of twenty-three years; at last it grew so infirm, 

 that the people to whom it belonged, were obliged to 

 scrape its beak and claws, that it might eat, drink, 

 and sit upon its perch. It had subsisted on poppy- 

 seeds chiefly, and had lost its power of flying, and 

 all its feathers had become white, which is contrary 

 to what has been usually observed in aged small 

 birds, whose plumage, at times, assumes a darker 

 shade, particularly if fed much upon hemp-seed. 

 Thus, there are instances of Goldfinches, Bullfinches, 

 arid Larks, becoming almost entirely black. 



So nearly allied are Canaries to Goldfinches, that 



they will breed together, and the produce is a very 



pretty bird (called a Mule), with a strong clear 



voice, which, in addition to its scarcity, causes it to 



* Gesner. 



