THE EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH. 



(Carduelis elegans=Fringilla carduelis.) 



Whose wary flight and cheery whistle 

 Adorn the wastes o'ergrown with thistle ; 

 No field so foul with noisome weeds 

 But there the dainty Goldfinch feeds, 

 And greets with song the fervent rays 

 That flood high noon of August davs. 



—Charles C. Abbott, "The Goldfinch." 



This gay plumaged and sprightly Gold- 

 finch is a native of the larger part of Eu- 

 rope, northern Africa and eastern Asia. 

 Throughout its range it. is a most useful 

 bird, as it feeds extensively on the seeds 

 of weeds, especially those of thistles and 

 related plants. Introduced into various 

 localities in the New England states and 

 New York City, it has seemingly become 

 naturalized. Its nests have been found 

 in Central Park, New York, where they 

 "were placed in pine trees, among the 

 tufts of long pine needles, near the end of 

 a slender horizontal liml) and about twelve 

 feet from the ground." 



The nests are compact and handsome 

 structures made of fine, soft grasses, 

 small roots and vegetable fibres, mosses 

 and lichens, all woven together with wool 

 and fibers, and finally lined with soft hairs 

 and feathers. These homes have thick 

 walls and are very substantial, and are 

 models of neatness. The materials used 

 vary somewhat with the locality, for the 

 birds never range very far from a favor- 

 able feeding ground. Not infrequently 

 the nest is built in deciduous bushes and 

 trees, but a flexible branch of the cone- 

 bearing evergreen kinds is preferred 

 where the nest is gently swayed by the 

 wind and' the young are rocked as if in 

 a cradle. Here the baby birds receive 

 their first glimpse of the life that they will 

 live vsffhen seeking their own food on the 

 wind-swayed tops of thistles and other 

 plants. 



Sometime in March the beautiful male 

 begins to sing. Somewhat crude at first, 

 the song reaches perfection late in jNIay. 

 No matter what he is doing, he finds time 

 to stop and from some perch utter a lovelv 

 song. The European Goldfinch is a dil- 

 igent bird and has an amiable disposition. 

 Except in defense of its young or nest, it 



seldom enters into combat with other 

 birds. 



j\lany other birds are better songsters, 

 but the docility, the hardy nature, the 

 lively disposition, an apparent attachment 

 for its master and its gay plumage have 

 combined to make this Goldfinch a great 

 favorite among caige birds. When prop- 

 erly cared for, it will sing almost contin- 

 uously and live much longer than do 

 most of the smaller birds when caged. 

 Its popularity as a pet has, however, 

 greatly reduced the number of these 

 useful birds in Great Britain. An au- 

 thority states that in i860, "the average 

 annual captures near Worthing exceeded 

 eleven thousand dozens — nearly all being 

 cockbirds, and a witness before a com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons in 

 1873 stated that, when a boy, he could 

 take forty dozen in a morning near 

 Brighton." It is gratifying that the cap- 

 turing of the Goldfinches has not been 

 so extensive in late years. Few birds 

 are more useful to man. The Goldfinch 

 feeds almost entirely ui)on the seeds of 

 those plants that are equally injurious to 

 both the cultivated field and the pasture. 

 It is seldom found in marshes or in culti- 

 vated fields that are free fromi weeds. 

 It frequents those waste places whei-e 

 there are thistles and related plants and 

 weeds of the mustard family. Nearly 

 all of these plants are most noxious to the 

 agriculturist and several possess winged 

 seeds that are oasily transported by the 

 winds. It is here that the Goldfinch feeds 

 most assiduously and the number of 

 seeds that a single bird will devour in a 

 season is far beyond computation. It is 

 an interesting sight to watch the Gold- 

 finch as it leaves its perch in order to 

 catch a seed as it is borne away by the 

 wind. 



