342 THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 



The specific title of Calebs, which is given to the Chaffinch, signifies a bachelor, and 

 refers to the annual separation of the sexes, which takes place in the autumn, the females 

 departing to some other region, and the males congregating in vast multitudes, consoling 

 themselves as they best can by the pleasures of society for the absence of the gentler portion 

 of the community. Yery large flocks of these birds appear towards the end of autumn, and 

 seem at first to be wholly composed of females. It is, however, more than pro1)able that they 

 consist of the females together Tvith their young families of both sexes, and that the immature 

 males have not as yet assumed their perfect i)lumage. The flocks are generally seen about 

 hedge-rows and stubble-fields ; and if the weather should be very severe, they adjourn to the 

 vicinity of human habitations, haunting the gardens and farm-yards, and often rivalling the 

 sparrows in their boldness of demeanor. 



The note of this bird is a merry kind of whistle, and the call-note is very musical and 

 ringing, somewhat resembling the word "pinck," which has therefore been often applied to 

 the bird as its provincial name. 



The nest of the Chaffinch is one of the prettiest and neatest. It is deeply cnp-shaped, 

 and the materials of which it is composed are moss, wool, hair, and lichens, the latter sub- 

 stances being always stuck i^rofusely over the surface, so as to give it a resemblance to the 

 bough on which it has been built. The nest is almost invariably made in the upright fork of 

 a branch, just at its junction with the main stem or bough from which it sprang, and is so 

 beautifully worked into harmony with tlie bark of the particular tree on which it is placed, 

 that it escapes the eye of any but a practised observer. Great pains are taken by the female 

 in making her nest, and the structure occupies her about three weeks. The eggs are from 

 four to five in number, and their color is pale bro\vnish buff, decorated with several largish 

 sj)ots and streaks of very dark brown. 



The color of tliis pretty bird is as follows : At the base of the beak the feathers are jetty 

 black, and the same hue, but with a slight dash of brown, is found on the wings and the 

 greater wing-coverts. The top of the head and back of the neck are slaty-gray, the back is 

 chestnut, and the sides of the head, the chin, throat, and breast are bright ruddy cliestnut, 

 fading into a colder tint upon the abdomen. The larger wing-coverts are tipped with white, 

 the lesser coverts are entirely of the same hue, and the tertials are edged with yellowish white. 

 The tail has the two central feathers grayish black, the next three pairs black, and the remain- 

 ing feathers variegated with black and white. The total length of the bird is six inches. The 

 female is colored sometliing like the male, but not so brilliantly. 



Of all the Finches, none is so truly handsome as the Goldfinch, a bird whose bright 

 yellow orange hues suffer but little even when it is placed in close proximity to the more gaudy 

 Finches of tropical climates. Like the chaffinch, it is spread over the whole of Europe, and 

 may be seen in great numbers feeding on the white thistledown. There are few prettier sights 

 than to watch a cloud of Goldfinches fluttering along a hedge, chasing the thistledown as it is 

 whirled away by the breeze, and uttering all the while their sweet merry notes. 



The birds are not very shy, and by lying quietly in the hedge the observer may watch 

 them as they come flying along, ever and anon perching upon the thistle tops, dragging out a 

 beakf ul of down, and biting off the seeds with infinite satisfaction. Sometimes a Goldfinch 

 will make a dart at a thistle or burdock, and mthout perching snatch several of the seeds 

 from their bed, and then alighting on the stem, will run up it as nimbly as a squirrel, and 

 peck away at the seeds, quite careless as to the attitude it may be forced to adopt. These 

 beautiful little birds are most useful to the farmer, for they not only devour multitudes of 

 insects during the spiing months, but in the autumn they turn their attention to the thistle, 

 burdock, groundsel, plantain, and other weeds, and work more effectual destruction than the 

 farmer could hope to attain with all his laboi-ers. Several Goldfinches may often be seen at 

 one time on the stem and top of a single thistle, and two or three are frequently busily engaged 

 on the same plant of groundsel. 



The American Goldfinch {Astragalinus tristls) is a pretty and familiar little bird. In 



