The Willow Goldfinch 



that must be because the singer offers the same sweet strains when the 

 goldenrod is fraying, and the sered yellow leaves of willows are rattling to 

 the ground. For the rest, Sir Goldfinch is the very apostle of good cheer. 

 Spring or autumn, we learn to accept his passing notes as little bouquets 

 flung down from heaven. Per chic'opee perchic' per chic' opee. Where is 

 the heart that will not treasure such an offering ! 



Of course it is the Green-backed Goldfinch which furnishes the 

 dominant element of California Goldfinchdom. Days will pass in which 

 never a Willow Goldfinch is seen. But the birds are always somewhere 

 about, at least west of the Sierras. If one frequents the willow bottoms, 

 the larger "Goldies" are sure to be seen; while gardens, orchards, edges 

 of clearings, and overgrown fencerows will get their innings. The 

 "Willows" mix freely with their cousins, the Green-backs, but the attach- 

 ment is not slavish, and a startled flock will, as a rule, separate into its 

 specific elements. Some confusion will always linger in the student's 

 mind until the notes of the two species— and, for that matter, of A. 

 lawrencei as well — are thoroughly threshed out. Both species have 

 generic phrases and rattles, but these serve to link them rather with 

 Cousin Siskin, or Serinus even, than with each other. The song of the 

 Willow is often an artless and a breathless jumble of happy notes. They 

 are ecstatic and babyish, rather than studied; and so far as I know, 

 the Willow never plagiarizes, as do psaltria and lawrencei. 



The Goldfinches are the only birds which may with any degree of 

 propriety be called "wild canaries." The true Canary, Serinus canarius, 

 is not, of course, a New World bird. But the phylogenetic relationship 

 between a number of these Fringilline genera, Spinus, Acanthis, Carduelis, 

 etc., is very close; and it is well known that the Goldfinch will cross with 

 the Canary, although the resulting offspring is, I understand, infertile. 



The nesting of the Willow Goldfinch is not usually postponed to 

 such lengths as in the East, where tristis typicus holds forth. And that, 

 perhaps, is because the California bird is not abjectly dependent upon the 

 thistle for nesting material. Nesting takes place normally in May 

 or June; but the birds occasionally prolong their efforts into July; and 

 April nests are of record. In their later nesting the Willow Goldfinches 

 show some disposition to colonize. Nests are placed at moderate heights 

 in willow trees, in ceanothus bushes at the lower levels, or even in weeds. 

 In construction a wide range of materials is used, although a given bird 

 may limit herself to a very narrow choice. A nest before me is a mass of 

 willow down almost as pure as cotton; but there is structural support of 

 grass and rootlets. Another shows no cotton, but is a close-set structure 

 of grass, weed-stems, string, moss, catkins, dry leaves, flower-heads, and 

 rootlets, with a lining of brownish gray pappus. 



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