■ The Goldfinch in Captivity 61 



takes from between my fingers. I never saw him try to 

 leave the cage except to reach C or myself, while C has only 

 tried to reach him. They spend the most time upon their 

 perches nearest each other, where they frequently sit and 

 sing together, but while playing about their cages and often 

 while feeding they utter warbling calls and numerous con- 

 versational notes intermixed with fragments of song. After 

 careful attention I can find nothing in the voice or action of 

 either bird that expresses the least discontent with cage life. 



There are emotional people who endow a captive bird with 

 all the mental anguish of a human being torn from loved ones 

 and thrust into prison and there are greater numbers who, at 

 least, proclaitn it wicked to imprison wild birds because they 

 are constantly pining for freedom, but I do not think any of 

 these people have kept and studied wild birds in captivity, 

 and unless they have done so it is evident that they are 

 merely straining their imaginations. I believe that under 

 proper treatment certain birds fare better in captivity. A 

 wild bird is menaced with death from all sides from such 

 sources as weather uncertainty, food supply, accidents, mam- 

 mals, birds, reptiles, etc., while in captivity it is protected 

 from all this and the attending hardships, and so it remains 

 only to determine how the bird feels its imprisonment. In- 

 stead of venturing what some would consider a biased opin- 

 ion I will let the reader draw his own conclusions from the 

 facts just presented. 



About September 25 I began a series of experiments in 

 an endeavor to get an approximate idea of the percentage 

 of insects consumed by goldfinches, but the birds refused to 

 touch insect food of any kind. 



Immature plumages are not so near alike as one would 

 suppose, for where a dozen males are kept together you soon 

 know each individual, mainly through plumage differences, 

 though aided by voice and action. 



As might be expected, undersized goldfinches are lacking 

 in vitality and are liable to succumb to exposure in a temper- 



