58 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 95 



5 :07, it had taken the birds just thirty-five minutes to wake 

 up and leave the roost. 



At Pasadena, later in the month, I got hints of several 

 roosts, one in two Italian cypresses and an unusually spread- 

 ing-, dense umbrella tree. As the migrating hordes take such 

 calm possession of the cities they pass through, roosts could 

 doubtless be found all along their southern California route. 



Washington, D. C. 



THE GOLDFINCH IN CAPTIVITY. 



BY J. CLAIRE WOOD. 



As I must lie abed nearh^ seventeen hours a day, with no 

 prospects of early improvement, what more natural than that 

 my nature-loving temperament should crave a bit of animated 

 nature to relieve the monotony of lonely hours, and what 

 more appropriate than a goldfinch? 



With this in mind I explored some promising bushland in 

 Oakwood village on August 8, 1915, and found a nest about 

 three feet above the ground in the vertical fork of a swamp 

 oak branch. The total height of this oak was about seven 

 feet and concealed in weeds eight to ten feet high. The nest 

 contained four young and an egg about to hatch. Twelve 

 days later the five young stood up in the nest alert and ready 

 to flutter into the weeds at too near an approach. The sexes 

 being separable in all plumag^es I selected one of the two 

 males, and by a combination of strategy and quickness se- 

 cured it. 



With a bird in a small cage at my bedside I could give it 

 the attention necessary to carry it through the critical stage 

 and later transferred it to a large cage on the back porch. 

 All went well until the morning of September 21 when, sud- 

 denly and for the first time, the bird developed a desire to 

 escape, fluttering from place to place and pouring forth a 

 volume of excited call notes. The disturbing factor was an 

 adult female on a sunflower head in a cluster of a rare red 

 variety growing in the yard, and henceforth this bird will be 



