The Goldfinch. 61 



hemp seed, to wHcli some fanciers add hard-boiled egg, an 

 addition that seems to me unnecessary, if not positively in- 

 jurious, seeing that the Goldfinch is a seed-eating bird, and 

 feeds its young from its own crop, and not on caterpillars, 

 as was erroneously asserted by Bufibn. The eggs of the Gold- 

 finch may also be advantageously transferred to the care of 

 a pair of good feeding Canaries, who will hatch them, and 

 bring up the young, without a suspicion of the fraud that 

 has been practised upon them. Bechstein says that a Gold- 

 finch will also bring up young Canaries, but this, considering 

 the shyness of the wild Goldfinch, and the readiness with 

 which it forsakes its nest if tampered with, is, I think, at 

 least doubtful; at the same time if its young ones are placed 

 in their nest in a cage hung up in the tree where they were 

 hatched, the old ones will continue to feed them through 

 the bars, until they are able to provide for themselves, which 

 is, where practicable, the most satisfactory way of obtaining 

 these birds. 



Goldfinches will breed in a garden aviary, or even in a 

 cage, with Canaries and other Pinches, as well as among 

 themselves, and should they ever really seem about to become 

 extinct in a wUd state, the race might thus be preserved in 

 a domesticated condition like the Canary. 



Take him for all in all, the Goldfinch is a beautiful and 

 lively bird, constantly in motion, turning and twisting about 

 in a restless excitable manner that is almost bewildering to 

 the onlooker, for he is never at rest, but is a veritable 

 miniature Jem Crow. He sings, too, very agreeably, and 

 readily learns the notes of other birds, or even an air that 

 has been played to him on a bird-organ, or a flageolet, or 

 whistled to him by his owner. He is also capable of learning 

 a number of little tricks, such as drawing up his seed and 

 water, flying out and returning at command, etc. 



In the house the Goldfinch suffers from a variety of com- 

 plaints, diarrhaea and decline being the most dangerous and 



