VOltTH AMEKlGAy BIRDS. 361 



The bird's general habits are very similar to those of the American Goldfinch. The 

 nest is built in trees and bushes, is bulky, made of twigs and grasses, with generally 

 A warm lining of feathers. A set of six eggs in Mr. Norris' cabinet were taken May 

 14, 1885, near Loughboro, England. Their ground-color is bluish-green, speckled 

 chiefly at the larger ends with burnt umber; sizes .62x.49, .65x.47, .60x.45, .62x.49, 

 .64X.48, .64X.47. The average size is .67x.48. 



528a. HOLBCBLL'S BEDPOLL. Acanthis Unaria holboelUi (Brehm.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Northern portions of Northern Hemisphere, near sea coast, south in winter to 

 Northern New York and Massachusetts. 



An intermediate subspecies between A. Unari and A. I. rostrata. It approaches 

 the former closely and is with difficulty distinguished. A rare bird in Eastern North 

 America. 



528b. GB.EATEB REDPOLL. Acanthis Unaria rostrata (Coues.) Geog. Dist. — 

 Greenland and Northeastern North America, south irregularly in winter to New 

 England, New York and Northern Illinois. 



This is a similar bird to A. Unaria, but larger, the feathers of the upper parts 

 averaging darker, bill shorter and stouter. Hagerup states that in Greenland it is a 

 summer visitor, but is found occasionally in small flocks or singly in winter. It is 

 very prolific in South Greenland, but less so in the northern portion. Eggs are laid 

 from May 20 to June 27, and their number ranges from four to seven in a set. The 

 eggs are described as being not distinguishable from those of the Greenland Redpoll. 

 According to Hagerup the nests are placed in willow bushes, generally in the lowest 

 branches, about three or three and a half feet from the ground. 



529. AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. Spinus tristis (Linn.) Geog. Dist.— Whole 

 of temperate North America, resident; wintering mainly within the United States. 



Thistle-bird, Yellow-bird, Lettuce-bird and "Wild Canary" are the names com- 

 monly applied to this species. It is distributed throughout North America generally, 

 and breeds southward to the middle districts. In the United States it is a well 

 knowii bird; its conspicuous bright colors, peculiar, undulating flight, and its 

 plaintive, lisping notes are familiar to even the casual observer. It nests when 

 most other birds are through breeding — in some localities, however, as early as June 

 15, but usually in July, or when the thistle-down begins to float on the breeze, in 

 August and September. Exceptionally, nests with eggs have been found in May. 

 The nest is a beautiful, compact, felted mass of vegetable fibres, moss, grasses, 

 leaves, fine strips of bark, lined with plant down, and the nests that are built late 

 enough in the season usually have a thick lining of thistle-down. It is placed in all 

 kinds of trees and bushes, ranging from three to forty feet above the ground. Wil- 

 lows, maples and orchard trees seems to be favorite nesting sites, and not infre- 

 quently it is found built in the tops of thistle plants. Mr. Walter E. Bryant records 

 the following unusual nesting place of the American Goldfinch as observed by Mr. 

 A. M. Ingersoll, in California: "In 1884 a grove of young willows that had been occu- 

 pied the previous season by a colony of tri-colored blackbirds, was found deserted 

 by them. Many of the blackbirds' nests still remained in forks of the willows from 

 four to ten feet above the marsh. Six of these old nests were in possession of Ameri- 

 can Goldfinches. The present tenants had loosely filled the nests about one-half full 



