222 USEFUL BIRDS. 
out for the lawbreakers. The birds have been sold in the bird 
stores or sent to Europe as red or gray Linnets. This may 
account for a local scarcity of this Finch in some places where 
it was formerly common. 
American Goldfinch. Yellow Bird. Wild Canary. Thistle Bird. 
Astralaginus tristis. 
Length. — About five inches. 
Adult Male.— Bright, rich canary-yellow; crown black; wings and tail black, 
white-marked. 
Adult Female.— Above, brownish-olive; below, grayish-white, tinged with 
yellow; wings and tail much like those of male, but more brownish. 
Young. — Much like female. 
Male in Winter. — Like female, but retaining his black-and white wings and tail. 
Nest.—A cup of grass and moss, down-lined ; built in a fork or branch-crotch 
from six to forty feet up. 
Eggs.— Bluish-white. 
Season. — Resident, but local and wandering in winter. 
The Goldfinch is almost as well known as the Bluebird, 
and is even more brilliant in coloring. Its common call, 
per-chic'-o-ree, given repeatedly, as it bounds through the 
air in graceful undula- 
tions, will be recognized 
by all who are at all 
familiar with bird life. 
This bright bird wan- 
ders among orchards and 
groves, and flits about 
the fields, pastures, and 
gardens long after other 
birds have begun their 
family cares ; for it is not 
until July that the Gold- 
finch usually undertakes 
to build its nest. Its 
brood once reared, all the 
Fig. 82.— American Goldfinch, male, about members of the family 
one-half natural size. may be seen wan dering 
about once more. In the garden they are sometimes known 
as “salad birds,” for they are particularly attentive to nice, 
crisp lettuce, from which at early morning they drink the dew, 
and perhaps eat a few tender morsels, no doubt paying for 
