LAND BIRDS. 477 
universally distributed and found both summer and winter, although 
the winter plumage is so unlike that 
of summer that the birds usually pass 
unrecognized. Moreover, it is much 
less abundant in winter, and often 
the entire season may pass without 
any being seen. Undoubtedly all the 
summer Goldfinches in any one 
region move southward in autumn, 
and those which are found in winter 
have come from more northern 
regions. These latter seem to return 
northward again in spring before 
their plumage has brightened much, 
but very soon the birds appear which 
have wintered farther south and 
these already have begun to take on 
the brighter summer plumage. They 
reach middle Michigan in flocks the 
last of April or first of May and Mts Moe Aetoalauae ty 
during that month and June are very einen Tuner sunnah 
conspicuous, feeding on the seeds of the elms, often on the ground, 
gathering by scores on the patches of dandelions to feast on the frente 
seeds. 
They remain in flocks until nesting begins, which is usually not until 
early July, and probably many of the birds do not nest until late in that 
month. Eggs may be found all through August and occasionally in Septem- 
ber. Samuel Spicer of Goodrich, Genesee county, records a nest with two 
fresh eggs found in a corn shock September 28, 1888. The nest is commonly 
placed in small orchard trees or shade trees, frequently in nurseries or 
willow thickets, and at heights varying from two to thirty feet from the 
ground. It is compactly and very neatly built of grasses and plant fibres, 
is deeply hollowed and lined with the softest of fibers, often with down 
from thistle, milk-weed, and other plants. The eggs are three to six, very 
pale blue and usually without spots, but rarely with a few brown specks. 
They average .66 by .47 inches. 
The Goldfinch feeds mainly on seeds of various kinds, among which 
those of the Composite hold the most important place. Its fondness for 
lettuce seed has earned for it the name of Lettuce-bird in some sections 
and the names Thistle-bird and Salad-bird have a similar origin. The 
fact that the young are fed mainly on the (regurgitated) seeds of these 
Composite, which are mostly late blooming plants, has been given as the 
probable explanation of the late nesting, and no better one has been offered 
thus far. That insects form some small part of the food is probable, but 
no great amount of credit can be claimed on this account. The consump- 
tion of weed seed, however, is a positive benefit, but perhaps hardly more 
than repays the market gardener and seedsman for the turnip, lettuce, and 
other valuable seeds taken. Besides the seeds named the Goldfinch eats 
a host of others and is particularly fond of goldenrod, aster, and the various 
wild sunflowers; also in winter it eats the seeds of the birch and alder, and, 
with the Pine Finch or Siskin, visits the arbor-vite and scrub pine and 
extracts such seeds as it is able. 
Its ordinary call-note when at rest is very similar to that of the common 
