182 LAND-BIKDS. 



IV. SPINTTS. 



A. TRiSTis. (^American) Goldfinch. '■'■ Yellowhird." ^'^ 

 " ITiistle-hird." Common in New England throughout the 

 year, but more abundant in summer than in winter. Like' 

 the Cedar-birds, they breed very late in the season.* 



a. About 4|^ inches long. (J (from April 1st f until Sep- 

 tember 20th?), bright yellow, "inclusive of lesser wing-cov- 

 erts." Crown, wings, and tail, black. Upper tail-coverts, 

 whitish ; but wing-markings and tail-spots entirely white. $ , 

 dusky olivaceous yellow above ; paler or yellowish beneath. 

 Wings and tail, less purely colored than in the male, who in 

 winter resembles the female, though much browner. 



h. The nest is usually composed of fine grasses (or strips 

 of bark), and is lined with down from thistles and other plants, 

 and sometimes with hairs. It is quite deep or cup-shaped, but 

 is substantial, neat, and compact. It is placed in a pasture 

 bush, a shade tree (especially on roadsides), perhaps an apple 

 tree, or a like situation, commonly between five and twenty 

 feet above the ground, and almost invariably in a crotch. I 

 have known it to be just completed as early as the twelfth of 

 June, and as late as the first week in August. The eggs of 

 each set are five or six, average about .63 X .50 of an inch, and 

 are faint bluish white (rarely with a few faint markings?). 



c. The Goldfinches, perhaps the most graceful members 

 of their large family, are very common and well known, and 

 one could hardly select from all the Finches, or from all birds, 

 more charming objects of study. They are summer residents 

 throughout a greater part of the eastern United States, are 

 common in Massachusetts, and are very abundant in (certain 

 parts of) northern New Hampshire, and probably the whole 

 of northern New England. They are very hardy, and remain 

 in the neighborhood of Boston throughout the year. 



^^ There is a Warbler (§ 9, X, A) also t The change from -winter to sum- 

 called the YeUowhird. mer plumage certainly begins in April, 



* A resident species of universal dis- but it is rarely, if eyer, perfected until 



tribution, perhaps more numerous in late in May, at least in New England, 



summer than in winter, but found com- — W. B. 

 monly at all seasons in nearly every 

 part of New England. — W. B. 



