Birds of Britain 



local bird, he is steadily increasing in numbers, and we have 

 reason to hope that he may long remain a welcome in- 

 habitant of our fields. The whole winter is spent roaming 

 about on waste lands feeding on seeds or berries, and 

 destroying countless weeds which would otherwise overrun 

 the land. In spring the flocks break up, and our friend 

 returns to the orchard or garden where he nested the 

 previous year. He constructs an open cup-shaped nest of 

 moss, bents, and small twigs fairly high up in some tree, 

 often covering the outside with lichen to assimilate better 

 with its surroundings. The lining consists chiefly of hair 

 and thistle-down, and the eggs are blue, spotted and streaked, 

 especially at their larger ends, with reddish brown. The 

 young are fed at first by the regurgitation of half-digested 

 food from the crops of their parents, and at this time of 

 year a large number of insects are consumed. Two broods 

 are often raised during the season, and then the family party 

 wanders out into the open fields to seek their food, returning 

 at night to the gardens, till they get gradually farther and 

 farther from home and no longer visit their summer haunt 

 till the following spring. 



This bird is so well and generally known that no de- 

 tailed description is necessary. The female may be dis- 

 tinguished by her more slender bill and brownish shoulders, 

 (lesser wing coverts). In the adult male the shoulders are 

 jet black, but young males sometimes show traces of brown. 



The young, known as " grey pates," are greyish brown on 

 the upper parts and lack the characteristic markings on the 

 head. The true Eussian Goldfinches are rather larger in size 

 and have a nearly white rump. The true " Siberian Gold- 



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