Il8 Twelve Months With 



The goldfinch's nest is composed of tender grass 

 and fine, slender strips of bark, and it is literally 

 filled with thistle down and silky materials for a 

 lining, upon which are nestled the dainty pale blue 

 eggs, like bits of blue sky peeping through fleecy 

 white clouds. 



John Keats did not write many nature poems, 

 so called, but he chose a worthy subject when he 

 selected the goldfinch: 



"Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop 

 From low hung branches; little space they stop, 

 But sip, and twitter and their feathers sleek, 

 Then off at once, as in a wanton freak; 

 Or perhaps, to show their black and golden wings. 

 Pausing upon their yellow flutterings." 



Except when nesting, the goldfinches usually 

 travel about in flocks, but in July and August they 

 will be seen singly or in pairs, and almost every 

 despised thistle stalk by the roadside will be found 

 gloriously crowned with a goldfinch, either eating 

 the seeds or gathering down for its nest. 



The indigo bunting is a trifle larger than the 

 goldfinch, with plumage of deep rich blue, tinged 

 with green, terminating in black on the wings and 

 tail. It may be seen almost any day in midsummer 

 on the margin of the woods, in the sun, which 

 position it seems greatly to prefer over the deep 

 shadows of the forest. Its beautiful warbling 

 song may be heard all through the summer at all 

 hours of the day, when most other birds seem 



