90 GOLDFINCH. 



HABITS. 



It \vill be difficult to find, even among those preeminently gregarious birds the Spar- 

 rows, a species more inclined to associate in flocks, at all seasons, than the Goldfinches. 

 In winter, when all the earth is covered deep with new-fallen snow, and naught is to be 

 seen but the billowy drifts excepting the partly shrouded trees or an occasional patch of 

 weed-tops, appearing above the silvery sheet, where the whistling wind, rushing over 

 some unprotected knoll, has swept a portion of the snow away. This scanty outcropping of 

 dead herbage would be inconspicuous enough when the ground was brown and bare, but is 

 now quite noticeable when seen on the immaculate surface. But other eyes are looking at 

 what to us seems but a blemish in so fair a landscape, looking eagerly too, for, coming 

 from afar, borne through the frosty atmosphere, may be heard a faint sound, now near- 

 er and louder until the air is full of pleasant, lively, bird notes, then suddenly, as if born 

 out of the blue sky above, a hundred Goldfinches come dropping down in a small cloud 

 upon what to them is an oasis in a desert. Each weed stalk is immediately occupied by 

 a cluster of little brown-backed birds which are silent enough now, being busily engaged 

 in abstracting what few seeds old Boreas has left on the branches. They are hungry and 

 exactly like all animals in this condition, not excepting man, attend exclusively to the 

 business of feeding until at least partly full. One can approach quite near them at such 

 times, for they will be very little inclined to leave their breakfast, only occasionally paus- 

 ing to answer the call of some passing straggler who is endeavoring to find the flock, but 

 later in the day they are more prone to be startled. Then the slightest sound will cause 

 one or more to jump on wing with the sharp note of alarm, when at once, without further 

 warning, the whole flock is in air. After circling a few times about the spot, going high- 

 er and higher, they at length take their departure, moving quite rapidly, sounding their 

 notes as they rise and fall in the undulating flight which is characteristic of this species. 

 It is extremely probable that the same flock will not visit that locality again for days or 

 even months, for Goldfinches are exceedingly nomadic in winter. 



As spring advances, and the Goldfinches which have migrated southward are return- 

 ing, the entire country is full of them. The birds linger for a time, while in the brown 

 plumage, in immense flocks, then, as the weather becomes wanner, break up into smaller 

 companies, and with the brightening summer put on their gala dress, assuming it seeming- 

 ly at once, for so rapidly does the moult take place that the new plumage is acquired in 

 less than a week. 



I have said that they appear in gala attire, and this is true in a stricter sense than 

 can be applied to most birds, for with the Goldfinches the long, bright days of June, when 

 almost all other birds are occupied with domestic cares, are passed as one joyous festival. 

 Thus they wander about in small flocks until July when the duties of incubation begin. 

 In the more settled districts the nests are usually placed in ornamental or shade trees by 

 road-sides. I recently counted five nests, all in trees which stood along some four-hun- 

 dred yards of walk. The neat domiciles are built in the terminal fork of some high limb, 

 and the eggs are deposited from the first week in July to the first of August. 



The young appear late enough for the parents to furnish them with newly-ripened 

 seeds which then abound upon various plants. I have always found this species feeding 



