100 FHINGILLID.E. 



LVSESSORES. FRINGILLID/E. 



CONIROSTHES. 



PLATE CIX. 



GOLDFINCH. 



Carduelis elegans. 



The lively and elegant Goldfinch is a universal favourite 

 in all countries where it is known, for its sweet song, its 

 gentle docility in confinement, and its unpretending useful- 

 ness at large. This species is met with in most parts of 

 the kingdom, and in some very plentifully, especially in hilly 

 districts and uncultivated wastes, where some of the wildest 

 and least valuable productions of the vegetable kingdom 

 furnish its frugal repasts. Widely extended commons which 

 abound in thistles, are the usual resort of this species in 

 autumn and winter — especially where tracts of firs and other 

 plantations afford them shelter for the night. Here, in sunny 

 autumn and winter days, small flocks of these bright little 

 creatures may be seen scattered about and feeding among 

 the thistles, or standing upon the prickly heads of the teasel, 

 busy in extracting the seeds from among the spines by which 

 they are protected : in these pursuits they exhibit many 

 graceful attitudes and agile movements. In many parts of 

 Surrey and Middlesex, where uncultivated commons and 

 pasture-lands afford much of their favourite food, this species 

 is very generally dispersed. We once met with a curious 

 circumstance with respect to this finch, which shows the 

 species to be numerous in those counties. Crossing a grass- 



