The American Goldfinch 



291 



exaltation, and when they add song, it is the very abandon of happiness. Even 

 in winter, when the fields are brown and the trees are bare, a flock of Gold- 

 finches adds the charm of life to an otherwise dead outlook. 



The Goldfinch migrates, but not to the extent that the truly migratory 

 species do. The Warblers, for instance, desert their summer homes and, after 

 making long journeys southward, spend the winter beyond the limits of the 

 United States; the Goldfinches, on the contrary, gradually move southward 



NEST AND EGGS OF AMERICAN GOLDFINCH 

 Photographed from nature by C. William Beebe 



as far as the Gulf States and in winter are found from the Gulf coast as far 

 north as the latitude of central New York. Their breeding range is from 

 the Carolinas westward to the Rocky Mountains and northward to the 

 British Provinces and southern Labrador; consequently they are permanent 

 residents in a large part of the United States where their migratory and 

 breeding ranges overlap. There are several closely related forms or sub- 

 species of the Goldfinch'^ found in the West and on the Mexican border 



* Pale Goldfinch in Rocky Mountain district; Willow Goldfinch in Pacific coast district. 



