GOLDFINCH 67 



regarded the blundering intruder as if wishing 

 to tell him he was "as crazy as he looked." 

 But the bright canary-like yellow of the male 

 Goldfinch's summer plumage is molted in au- 

 tumn, and for the rest of the year he is dull- 

 colored like the female. 



Their food is chiefly of seeds, lettuce seeds 

 being so favored that they are sometimes called 

 Lettuce-birds, and for a similar reason Thistle- 

 birds; but plant-lice and other small insects are 

 also eaten. 



The song is quite canary-like, but softer, with 

 a variety of pretty chirps and trills. On the 

 wing, their undulating course is punctuated by 

 a twitter described by the mountain people as 

 "Meat's cheaper — meat's cheaper"; and there 

 is also a call-note, "te-zwee-ee? te-zwee?" with 

 rising inflection. 



The nest is very pretty, made of grass and 

 plant fibres and lined with thistle down. It is 

 often placed in alders or other thick waterside 

 growth. There are from three to six pale blue 

 eggs. The nesting time is delayed beyond that 

 of most of our small birds, as late as June or 

 even July. 



During the winter, when most of our gay 

 song birds have deserted us, we are often glad- 

 dened by a bright cluster of clear twittering 

 notes, falling as it were out of the sky, where 



