342 THE GOLD FINCH. - 
is found on the wings and the greater wing-coverts. The top of the head 
and back of the neck are slaty grey, the back is chestnut, and the sides of 
the head, the chin, throat, and breast are bright ruddy chestnut, fading into a 
colder tint upon the abdomen, The larger wing-coverts are tipped with 
white, the lesser coverts are entirely of the same hue, and the tertials are 
edged with yellowish white. The tail has the two central feathers greyish 
black, the next three pairs black, and 
the remaining feathers variegated with 
black and white. The total length of 
the bird is six inches, The female 
is coloured something like the male, 
but not so brilliantly. 
OF all the British Finches, none if 
so truly handsome as the GOLDFINCH, 
a bird whose bright yellow-orange 
hues suffer but little even when it is 
placed in close proximity to the more 
gaudy Finches of tropical climates. 
Like the chaffinch, it is spread over 
» the whole of England, and may be 
) seen in great numbers feeding on the 
: white thistledown. There are few 
CHAFFINCH.—(/ringilla celebs.) prettier sights than to watch a cloud 
of Goldfinches fluttering along a 
hedge, chasing the thistledown as it is whirled away by the breeze, and 
uttering all the while their sweet merry notes. 
The birds are not very shy, and by lying quietly in the hedge the observer 
may watch them as they come flying along, ever and anon perching upon 
the thistle tops, dragging out a beakful of down, and biting off the seeds with 
infinite satisfaction. Sometimes a Goldfinch will make a dart at a thistle or 
burdock, and without perching snatch several of the seeds from their bed, 
and then alighting on the stem, will run up it as nimbly as a squirrel, and 
peck away at the seeds, quite careless as to the attitude it may be forced to 
adopt. These beautiful little birds are most useful to the farmer, for they 
not only devour multitudes of 
insects during the spring months, 
but in the autumn they turn 
their attention to the thistle, bur- 
dock, groundsel, plantain, and 
other weeds, and work more 
effectual destruction than the 
farmer could hope to attain with 
all his labourers. Several Gold- 
finches may often be seen at one 
time on the stem and top of a 
single thistle, and two or three 
are frequently busily engaged on 
; the same plant of groundsel. 
GOLDFINCH.—(Fringilla carduelis.) The nest of the Goldfinch is 
very neat and prettily made, 
sometimes built in a hedge or thick bush, but mostly placed towards the 
extremity of a thickly foliaged tree-branch, such being a favourite for this 
purpose. Inthis position the nest is so ingeniously concealed from the gaze 
of every one beneath, by the disposition of the branches and leaves and by 
the manner in which the exterior of the nest is made to harmonize in tint 
