<iG The Wilson Bulletin — No. 83. 



THE FOOD OF NESTLING GOLDFINCHES. 



On page 21 of the Wilson Bulletin for March, 1913, there ap- 

 pears the following reference to the food of nestling Goldfinches: 



" Then comes a busy time, for the parents must hurry around 

 and catch enough insects, mainly plant-lice and flies, for their in- 

 satiable little charges." 



In the year 1897 we had occasion to ascertain the food of nest- 

 ling Goldfinches. We had become interested in moult and feather 

 development and desired to rear a few young from the nest by 

 hand. We easily located two nests in a piece of bushy pasture 

 land within sight of a considerable area covered with American 

 thistles and each contained five newly hatched young on August 

 25. We waited one week and then conducted an investigation of 

 three hours' duration. In brief, we many times saw the parents 

 gather thistle seed and fly directly to the nest, and after regurgi- 

 tation the seeds could be felt in the crops of the young. We killed 

 one while in this condition and its crop contained nothing but this- 

 tle seed, in a softened state, caused by a fluid that may have come 

 from the parent. We took two of the young and succeeded in 

 rearing one on a diet of boiled thistle seed, to which bread was 

 added in a week and gradually replaced by crushed hemp seed 

 soaked in water, and at the age of four weeks the bird was on a 

 diet of the ordinary mixed seed for canaries and did not receive 

 any food of an animal nature from the time it was taken from 

 the nest until the first moult. In conclusion, the Goldfinches we 

 observed did not look for insects, nor were there any in the crops 

 examined, while the rearing of the nestling without insect food 

 indicates that such food is not essential if used at all. 



J, Claire Wood. 



HAROLD BAILEY WILL PUBLISH BOOK ON BIRDS. 



James E. Abbe, formerly of this city, but now representing the 

 publishing firm of J. P. Bell Company of Lynchburg, arrived here 

 Friday and yesterday closed a deal with Harold Bailey, the well 

 known ornitbologist of this city, for the publication of Mr. Bailey's 

 new work on " Virginia Breeding Birds." 



This book, with its many beautiful color plates and half-tone 

 cuts, Mr. Abbe says, when published, will be equal to anything 

 ever gotten out in the nature book line. 



Virginia has up to now been without a publication of this na- 

 ture, such as has been published in many other states, and the 

 reputation for high-class publishing that Mr. Abbe's company en- 

 joys, is an assurance that the book is to be a finished product. 



