according to the kind of tree in which 
\¢ it is placed; but they generally con- 
- : S. sist more or less of fine grasses, wool 
“= and hairs, woven together with the 
most wonderful neatness, and warmly lined with feathers 
and moss, mingled, very often, with the silky white down 
of the coltsfoot. The four or five eggs are bluish-white 
in ground colour, speckled with purple and brown. 
After the nesting season is over, Goldfinches congregate 
together in small flocks of from ten or a dozen to about 
twenty in number, which may be seen hard at work among 
the thistles in waste places or on the borders of fields. 
79 
