Cambridge, Mass.
1910
July 4
(No 2)
[July 4, 1910]

Four & five Goldfinches courting a single female

  Ever since my return to Cambridge I have seen 
or heard Goldfinches at all hours in the garden.
Often there have been four and occasionally as many
as five, males paying court to a single female,
clustering about her in some tree top or following her
short flights from tree to tree, all singing at once
and producing a perfect flood of melody. Their rivalry
seems to be shown only by persistent attempts to
outsing one another for there is no fighting or
threatening. Sometimes when all are on wing 
together they whirl about over and through the
trees in a cluster so compact that a bushel basket
would enclose the whole of them and when they
alight the males crowd so closely about the female
that it is difficult to see her. This behavior reminds
me of that of House Sparrows in spring. I do not remember
ever seeing Goldfinches indulge in it before.