42 GRAMINIVOILE. 



the northern shore of Lake Ontario, in Canada, know what 

 it is to have fields overrun with the Canadian thistle ; and 

 many parts of the north of Scotland, where there were no 

 bushes for birds, were sadly infested with the common field 

 marigold, before belts and copses began to be planted. In 

 garden-grounds the race may be destructive ; but where 

 corn grows and herbs graze, their usefulness far more than, 

 compensates. 



THE GREEN FINCH (Fringilla cJiloris). 



The green finch, or green linnet, as it is sometimes called, 

 differs from the other finches in the form of its bill, in whick 

 it more resembles the sparrows ; but its habits more resemble 

 those of the other finches. Its bill is thicker and more con- 

 vex, both on the upper and the lower mandible, than that 

 of the sparrow, and much less perfectly conical than that of 

 the finches ; but the air, texture of the plumage, mode of 

 perching, nesting place, structure of the nest, and many other 

 traits of character, are much more nearly like those of the 

 other finches. Both the British species of sparrows nestle 

 in holes, in preference to the shelter of leaves, while the 

 green finch, though it is a bird of the shade, both with its 

 nest and on its perch, never builds in a hole of the wall or a 

 hollow tree. It is not so elegantly elaborate a nest-builder 

 as the chaffinch, but the nesting places are similar ; and 

 when nesting time is over, the two species flock together on 

 the fields. 



The green finch is about six inches and a half long, ten 

 and a half in the extent of the wings, and an ounce in 

 weight. Its appearance is very soft and gentle, and the 

 tints of its plumage subdued and blending. The bill and 

 feet have a pink tinge in the living bird, which, however, 

 soon fades after it is killed, 'as is apt to be the case with the 

 bloom tints upon those parts of all birds. The upper part 



