112 FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



goldfinch {Spinus tristls), by siglit. The top of its 

 head, its wings, and tail are black ; all the rest of the 

 body is canary-yellow except beneath, where it is 

 whitish ; the bill and legs are cinnamon-brown. This 

 is the costume of the male bird during the summer ; 

 in winter the yellow assumes an olive tinge, more 

 nearly like the dull hnes of the female. These 

 birds build a nest pretty well up among the twigs of 

 the gray birch, the red cherry, or the wild apple ; in 

 it are laid four or five dull-white eggs, daintily 

 speckled brown. If one wishes to hear the yellow- 

 bird's song at its best he must rise at about half past 

 four on a clear June morning ; at this hour the spar- 

 rows, finches, robins, and meadow larks are all sing- 

 ing at once — a regular medley of musical tones with 

 never a pause between ! I will not attempt the im- 

 possible task of writing out this matutinal sym- 

 phony, but a good title of it in plain English has 

 been given to us by Eobert Louis Stevenson in his 

 Child's Garden of Verses : 



Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head ! 

 The greatest singers, by far (at least of New 

 England), are the sparrows. But there are so many 

 difEerent species that I can only describe two or 

 three which seem to be the commonest. Chief 

 among these is the song sparrow [Melospiza fas- 

 ciata). He is mainly responsible for the great dis- 



