20 



YELLOW-BIRD, OR GOLDFINCH. 

 FlilNGILLA TRISTIS. 

 [Plate I.— Fig. 2.] 



Linn. Syst. I, />. 320. — Car duelis Americana^ Briss. Ill, j&. 6, 3. — he Chardonnerat jaune, 

 Buff. IV, p. 112. PL enl 202, / ^.—American Goldfinch, Arct. ZooL 11, jYo. 242.— 

 Edw. 274.— Lath. aSz/;?. III,/?. 288, 57. 166.— Bartram, 290.— Pe ale's 

 Museum, No. 6344. 



THIS bird is four inches and a half in length, and eight inches 

 in extent, of a rich lemon yellow, fading into white towards the 

 rump and vent. The wings and tail are black, the former tipt and 

 edged with white, the interior webs of the latter are also white; 

 the fore part of the head is black, the bill and legs of a reddish 

 cinnamon color. This is the summer dress of the male; but in 

 the month of September the yellow gradually changes to a brown 

 olive, and the male and female are then nearly alike. They build 

 a very neat and delicately formed little nest, which they fasten to 

 the twigs of an apple tree, or to the strong branching stalks of 

 hemp, covering it on the outside with pieces of lichen which they 

 find on the trees and fences ; these they glue together with their 

 saliva, and afterwards line the inside with the softest downy sub- 

 stances they can procure. The female lays five eggs, of a dull 

 white, thickly marked at the greater end ; and they generally raise 

 two broods in a season. The males do not arrive at their perfect 

 plumage until the succeeding spring; wanting, during that time, 

 the black on the head ; and the white on the wings being of a 

 cream color. In the month of April they begin to change their 

 winter dress, and before the middle of May appear in brilliant 

 yellow: the whole plumage towards its roots is of a dusky bluish 

 black. 



