76 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



and ditches, or wherever else a sufificiently marshy area exists to support a growth 

 of willow saplings. 



These goldfinches appear to be distributed everywhere through the low- 

 lands of Fresno County, wherever conditions are suitable for them, and when 

 not found along streams they may often be seen in peach orchards and in trees 

 around dwellings. Their subdued whistling call is often heard in early spring- 

 time in the trees along the city streets, but it sounds more cheerful on some foggy 

 winter afternoon as a mixed flock of linnets and goldfinches gleans again through 

 some sunflower patch for the few seeds that may have been overlooked on a 

 previous search. 



Any time from the last week in April until the first of July a pair of Willow 

 Goldfinches may begin the construction of a nest, which later will contain four 

 or five eggs of the palest blue color. These nests are beautiful, compactly wov n 

 cups, made of light plant fibers, bark strips, and cotton, and fastened in the forks 

 of a willow or peach tree at a height of from six to fifteen feet from the ground, 

 as a rule. The plainly clad female presents quite a contrast to her bright-plum- 

 aged mate, but the most interesting color contrasts are to be found in the males 

 just before the breeding season, when they are in the midst of the pre-nuptial 

 moult. 



Green-backed GoldEinch. Astragalinus psaltria hesperophilus Oberholser. 



Apparently this species and the Willow Goldfinch require different environ- 

 mental surroundings. While the latter has become much more numerous as a 

 result of the settling up of the country, this bird, never especially numerous in 

 this region, has responded much less favorably to cultivation, and has decreased 

 in numbers, to some extent, during the past ten years. 



When the country was given over largely to grain ranches, with occasional 

 weed-grown, uncultivated areas here and there, this goldfinch found conditions 

 much more to its liking and was more often to be met with. Wherever sunflower 

 patches occur it is still to be found, and during the v/inter months it often as- 

 sociates with Linnets, going about in large flocks. Probably much the same sort 

 of food is sought by each of these species. 



Lawrence Goldeinch. Astragalinus lawrencei (Cassin). 



Excepting the Cedar Waxwing, there is probably no bird more erratic in its 

 occurrence than this species. The few individuals that I have observed have all 

 been noted in the month of April, with the exception of a single bird seen near 

 Clovis, June i6, 1907. On that date a single individual was seen in a patch of 

 weeds, where it was associating with Linnets and other goldfinches. T had a close 

 view of it as it hung head downward, deftly extracting seeds from a woolly 

 weed. 



April 29, 191 1, I found one male and at least three females of this species in 

 a weed grown corner of an oatfield on the river bank belov/ Lane's Bridge. 

 There were also a number of very highly plumaged Willow Goldfinches and a 

 few Linnets feeding in the same place. 



I have heard of but one instance of the Lawrence Goldfinch nesting in this 

 region and that was furnished me by Mr. Chas E. Jenney who found a nest with 

 four slightly incubated eggs on April 11, 1906. This structure, which was built 



