AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 349 
this part of New England throughout that season; and some- 
times, in company with the Snow Buntings, in the inclement 
months of January and February, they may be seen busily 
employed in gleaning a scanty pittance from the seeds of the 
taller weeds, which rise above the deep and drifted snows. As 
late as the 15th of September I have observed a nest of the 
Yellow Bird with the young still unfledged. Their migrations 
are very desultory, and do not probably extend very far, their 
progress being apparently governed principally by the scarcity 
or abundance of food with which they happen to be supplied. 
Thus, though they may be numerous in the depth of winter, as 
soon as the weather relaxes in the month of March, scarcely 
any more of them are to be seen, having at this time, in quest 
of sustenance, proceeded probably to the southern extremity of 
the United States. Those observed in tropical America may 
be hibernal wanderers from the cooler parts of Mexico. At 
all events they select the milder climates of the Union in 
which to pass the breeding season, as at this time they are but 
rarely seen in the Southern States, Kentucky being about the 
boundary of their summer residence. 
Naturally vagrant and wandering, they continue to live in 
flocks or in near vicinage, even throughout the greatest part of 
the selective season. As the fine weather of spring approaches 
they put off their humble winter dress, and the males, now 
appearing in their temporary golden livery, are heard tuning 
their lively songs as it were in concert, several sitting on the 
same tree enjoying the exhilarating scene, basking and pluming 
themselves, and vying with each other in the delivery of their 
varied, soft, and cheerful warble. They have also the faculty 
of sinking and raising their voices in such a delightful cadence 
that their music at times seems to float on the distant breeze, 
scarcely louder than the hum of bees; it then breaks out as it 
were into a crescendo, which rings like the loud song of the 
Canary. In cages, to which they soon become familiar and 
reconciled, their song is nearly as sonorous and animated as 
that of the latter. When engaged in quarrel they sometimes 
hurl about in a whole flock, some, as it were, interfering to 
