48 THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 



now searching Ihe heads of the last year's mullein stalks and enlivening their 

 quest with much pleasant chatter, now scattering in obedience to some whim- 

 sical command and sowing the air with their laughter. "Perchic-opee" or 

 " perchic-ichic-opee" says every bird as it glides down each successive billow of 

 its undulating flight. So enamoured are the Goldfinches of their gypsy life 

 that it is only when the summer begins to wane that they are willing to make 

 particular choice of mates and nesting spots. As late as the middle of July one 

 may see roving bands of forty or fifty individuals, but by the first of August 

 they are usually settled to the task of rearing young. The nesting also appears 

 to be dependent in some measure upon the thistle crop. When the weeds are 

 common and the season forward, nesting may begin in June ; but when thistle 

 down is scarce or wanting the birds seem loth to begin without an abundant 

 supply of their favorite nest lining. 



Nests are placed in the upright forks of various kinds of saplings or even 

 of growing plants, in which latter case the thistle, again, proves first choice. 

 The materials used are the choicest obtainable. Normally the inner bark of 

 hemp is employed for warp, and thistle-down for woof and lining, so that the 

 whole structure bleaches to a characteristic silver-gray. . In the absence, or 

 scarcity of these, grasses, weeds, bits of leaves, etc. are bound together with 

 cobwebs and the whole felted with other soft plant-downs or even horse-hair. 

 The whole is made fast throughout its depth to the supporting branches and 

 forms one of the most durable of summer's trophies. 



From four to six, but commonly five, eggs are laid, and these of a delicate 

 greenish blue. Fourteen days are required for hatching and from the time of 

 leaving the nest the youngsters drone habee! habee! with weaiy iteration, all 

 through the stifling summer day. 



During the nesting season the birds subsist largely upon insects of 

 various kinds, especially plant lice, flies, and the smaller grasshoppers, but at 

 other times they feed almost exclusively upon seeds. They are very fond of 

 sunflower seeds, returning as they do to a favorite head day after day until the 

 crop is harvested. Seeds, of the lettuce, turnips, and other garden plants are 

 levied upon freely where occasion offers, but thistle-seed is a staple article, and 

 that is varied by a hundred seeds besides, which none could grudge them. 



Throughout the winter the Goldfinches are much less in evidence, partly 

 because of their subdued colors, the yellow having given place to dingy white ; 

 and partly, it would appear, from the fact that considerable numbers retire 

 more or less regularly to the South at that season. But wherever found the 

 Goldfinch has the same merry notes and sprightly ways, so that he is endeared 

 to the hearts of all. 



