The Goldfinch. 59 



■while the other remains with us all the year round, has little 

 foundation in fact, and is not much more rational than that 

 of "orchard" and "fir" Goldfinches insisted upon by some 

 continental writers, while the "harbour" or "arbour" birds 

 are much the same as the rest. 



Difference in size is accounted for by the fact that the 

 young which are first hatched are stronger and larger than 

 their juniors in the same nest, and often carry off the food 

 intended for the latter : again if there are two or three young 

 in a nest it stands to reason that they fare better, and con- 

 sequently grow larger than another brood of which there are 

 five or six little ones: that this is the case I have proved 

 with Canaries, having procured some unusually fine large birds, 

 by leaving one only of a brood to be reared by the parents, 

 when it monopolised the attentions that would have been 

 divided among four, and throve and grew accordingly. 



"When wild the Groldfinch is found all over the temperate 

 regions of Europe; those that live in the south being larger 

 and more brightly coloured than those which inhabit the 

 north: thus the continental Goldfinches are larger and hand- 

 somer than our English birds, which again are superior to 

 those found in Ireland, and these to the Scotch Goldfinches. 

 Though a shy and restless bird, the Goldfinch is not migratory 

 in its habits, and merely moves from place to place in search 

 of food, never proceeding to any great distance, certainly 

 never crossing the sea, as has been erroneously stated. 



When wild the Goldfinch, Fringilla carduelis of Linnseus, 

 le Ghardonneret of Buffon, and der Distelfink of Bechstein, 

 feeds on a variety of seeds, such as those of the thistle, dif- 

 ferent kinds of grass, groundsel, dandelion, plantain, and 

 others: and in the house it will thrive better if supplied 

 with the same food: in time, however, it can be weaned from 

 this diet, and will do very well on canary, millet, and a 

 little hemp seed, and summer rape. Once it has become ac- 

 customed to the latter regimen, it will live for a very long 



