the orchard blossoms, bees plunging into the flower-cups, meadows smothered with 

 butter-cups, swamps golden with marsh marigolds, woods aflame with honey-suckles, 

 fields crimson with clover— bird song, insect hum, and flower blossoms on every side!"* 



In the merry month of June we hear from early dawn till the evening falls a 

 chorus of beautiful singing birds. The Oriole in the elm, the Song Sparrow in the rose 

 bushes, the Catbird in the honey-suckles, the Summer Warbler in the mock orange, the 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the trees of the woodland border, the Veery in the mossy 

 swamp, the Bobolink in the flower-adorned meadow, the Red-wing in the reeds, the 

 Mai-tin in the air — all sing in jubilant notes their hymns of joy and happiness. Not 

 earlier than the latter part of that month our lovely little Goldfinch begins to join the 

 chorus, and by July first all the males are in full song. Their brilliant melodious and 

 liquid strains are now heard from all sides. Almost all other birds are now busily 

 engaged in feeding their young, finding rarely time for singing, except in the dusk of 

 the evening. 



The Goldfinch which is also known by the names of Wild Canary, Thistle-bird, 

 YeItLOW-bird, and Lettuce-bird, is one of our most familiar species, being especially 

 abundant in settled localities. Its colors are gay, its song sweet and varied, its ways 

 and manners agreeable, innocent, and enjoying, and its nesting habits and its family 

 -life highly interesting. It is, therefore, quite worthy of the love and favor with w^hich 

 it is regarded by all who love nature. Like the Bluebird, the Robin, Catbird, Baltimore 

 Oi-iole, and Martin, the Goldfinch is one of our most lovely, poetical, and valuable 

 garden birds, and like all the others it has a character entirely of its own, harmlessness 

 being its main feature. 



This bird is distributed over a vast territory, being found firom the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the fur countries. In these northern regions it 

 was observed by Sir John Richardson. He says that it is one of the tardiest of summer 

 visitors, departing in September. In its range of distribution the Goldfinch is found 

 almost everywhere, at least at certain times of the year. It may be found in the low- 

 lands aS well as in the mountain regions. Prof. R. Ridgway found it breeding in the 

 Uintah Mountains in July. He also observed it near Sacramento City, associated with 

 the House Finch and often nesting in the same tree. Nests were found in this locality 

 much earlier than in the East, firom 6th to 28th of June. In the interior of California 

 the Goldfinch is rarely seen. Dr. Newberry found it quite common throughout his 

 route to the Columbia. This sweet songster, he says, has been a constant source of 

 pleasure in the interior both of California and Oregon, far from the haunts of man, 

 where everything else was new and strange. In California it breeds as far south as 

 San Diego, but seems to avoid the hot interior valleys as well as the mountains. In 

 south-eastern Texas, in Louisiana and Florida it is common in winter from Novem- 

 ber to April, but I have never found it there in the breeding season. In northern 

 Arkansas and southern Missouri it is a rather common summer resident, but is not so 

 abundant as in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Although giving the impression of 

 a delicate bird, it is- quite a hardy little creature, capable of taking a Wisconsin 

 winter as it comes. Probably these winter sojourners are northern birds, while the 



• G. B. Ellwanger. "The Garden's Storj-," p. 135. 



