66 ENGLISH SPARROW. 



to find their main food, the seeds of noxious weeds, everywhere. Only when deep snow 

 covers the ground they are forced to wander to more favorable localities. 



The Goldfinch or Thistlefinch is a beautiful bird, and, like our own Goldfinch, it is 

 very restless, quick in its movements, and always happy, cunning, and suspicious. When 

 alighting in the top of a tree, singing in rapturous joy its sweet strain, the bird makes 

 the impression as if it were aware of its fine appearance. Being a denizen of the trees, 

 it rarely comes down to the ground, where all its movements are very awkward. While 

 resting, the tops of medium-sized trees- are chosen. It is always suspicious of man, 

 and even shy, but only after the experience of the bird has found him its enemy. Where 

 it is cared for and protected, it becomes very familiar and tame, breeding and singing 

 frequently in close proximity to frequented walks in the garden or near the house. The 

 flight and the song also remind the observer of our Goldfinch, though its notes are 

 louder and not quite as mellow and sweet as those of our native species. 



Its food consists in winter mostly of the seeds of weeds, and in fall those of the 



alder and birch are searched for. In spring insects are added to its bill of fare, and in 



early summer the seeds of the dandelion and lettuce are greatly relished. But its main 



food consists of the seeds of the burdock and especially the thistle. It is a beautiful 



picture to see the American and European species in a patch of thistles climbing around 



and swinging themselves on the thistle heads. As a cage bird this Goldfinch is a great 



favorite with bird fanciers, and in this respect it is much more valuable than our more 



tender native species, being able to withstand the hardships of cage life exceedingly well. 



It needs the same treatment in captivity as the Canary-bird. 



NAMES: European Goldfinch, Thistlefinch.— Distelfink, Stieglitz (German). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: CardueUs elegans Steph. (1826). CARDUELIS CARDUELIS BoiE (1822). 



DESCRIPTION: "Sexes alike. Forepart of head, all round, crimson; lores, hinder part of crown, occiput, 

 and bar from latter half-way across side of neck, black, rest of head, white, more or less tinged with 

 buff; back and scapulars, plain brown; rump and upper tail-coverts, white; wings and tail, chiefly 

 black ; greater portion of greater coverts, basal portion of lower secondaries, and basal half or more 

 of exposed portion of outer webs of primaries, pure gamboge-yellow; secondaries, primaries, and 

 middle tail-feathers, tipped with white, the inner webs of outer tail-feathers partly white; sides of 

 breast, sides, and flanks, plain cinnamon-brown ; rest of lower parts, dull white. 

 "Length, 4.87 inches; wing, 3.02; tail, 2.05 inches.'' (Ridgway.) 



ENGLISH SPARROW, 



Passer domesticus Schaeffer. 



^HE English Sparrow, also called the European or House Sparrow, is at present 

 one of our most numerous and wellknown birds, being common in all the larger 

 cities and towns, and in many country places from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 

 Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The first experiment to naturalize this bird was made 

 by Hon. Nicolas Pike in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1850, where eight pairs were imported 



