Bird Study 53 



The Goldfinch 



Leading thought — Goldfinches are seen at their best in late summer or 

 September when they appear in flocks wherever the thistle seeds are 

 found in abundance. Goldfinches so resemble the canaries in form, color, 

 song and habits that they are called wild canaries. 



Method — The questions for this lesson should be given to the pupils 

 before the end of school in June. The answers to the questions should be 

 put in their field note-books and the results be reported to the teacher in 

 class when the school begins in the autumn. 



Observations — i. Where do you find the goldfinches feeding? How 

 can you distinguish the father from the mother birds and from the young 

 ones in color? 



2. Describe the colors of the male goldfinch and also of the female as 

 follows: Crown, back of head, back, tail, wings, throat, breast and lower 

 parts. Describe in particular the black cap of the male. 



3. Do you know the song of the goldfinch? Is it like the song of the 

 canary? What other notes has the goldfinch? 



4. Describe the peculiar flight of the goldfinches. Do they fly high 

 in the air? Do you see them singly or in flocks usually? 



5. Where do the goldfinches stay during the winter? What change 

 takes place in the coat of the male during the winter? Why? What do 

 they live upon during the winter? 



6. At what time of year do the goldfinches build their nests? Why 

 do they build these so much later than other birds? Describe the nest. 

 Where is it placed? How far above the ground ? How far from a stream 

 or other water? Of what is the outside made? The lining? What is 

 the general appearance of the nest? Do you think the goldfinches wait 

 until the thistles are ripe in order to gather plenty of food for their young, 

 or to get the thistle down for their nests? What is the color of the eggs? 



Supplementary reading — True Bird Stories, Miller, pp. 6, 9, 26, 45. 

 The Second Book of Birds, Miller, p. 82; Our Birds and Their Nestlings, 

 Walker, pp. 180, 200. 



Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop 

 From low-hung branches; little space they stop, 

 But sip, and twitter, and their feathers sleek. 

 Then off at once, as in a wanton freak; 

 Or perhaps, to show their black and golden wing':!; 

 Pausing upon their yellow fiutterings . 



— ^JoHN Keats. 



