The Goldfinch. 



8i 



them to keep along the coast, travelling southwards in the 

 direction of Brighton and Dover, where they are much sought 

 after by bird-catchers, who succeed in taking large numbers 

 of them. Those which remain in this country are known as 

 " homelings," or harbour birds," and those which return in 

 the spring as "flight birds." The last of the migratory 

 birds leave England about the middle of October, cross 

 the Channel for France, and then continue their journey 

 southward, where the climate is more genial, and food 

 more readily procurable. They arrive again on our coast in 

 the early part of April, and commence their domestic arrange- 

 ments with very little delay if the weather be mild and the 

 fruit trees in blossom. They mostly frequent gardens, 

 orchards, woods, and mountainous districts under cultivation. 



Goldfinches build their nests in apple, pear, or plum trees 

 in orchards or gardens, and in pine, elm, oak, or other 

 coniferous trees in woods, and sometimes, but rarely, in 

 thorn bushes and hedges in cultivated localities. The nest 

 of the Goldfinch is a beautiful piece of workmanship, and 

 shows that this bird is gifted with both architectural and 

 mechanical skill in an eminent degree ; in design and execu- 

 tion the nest is a masterpiece of art, which almost baffles 

 description. It is semi-spherical in form, and is composed 

 of a variety of materials. The outside, which is made to 

 resemble the stem or branches of the tree in which it is 

 built, with the evident intention of making it difficult to find 

 by those who are interested in searching for it, is com- 

 posed of very fine moss, lichens, root fibres, pieces of the 

 dried bark of trees, and sometimes fine hay ; the inside is 

 lined with hair and the down of thistles, groundsel, and 

 dandelion. 



The hen, which lays from four to six eggs, of a pale 

 greenish- white colour, speckled with brownish-red spots, and 

 peculiarly formed zig-zag patches or stripes at the sides or 

 thick ends of them, incubates fourteen days ; and the young 

 are fed from the crops of the parents until they leave the 

 nest, when the male bird takes full charge of them, and 

 entices them to some quiet place where there is an abun- 

 dance of groundsel, plantain, burdock, or thistle seeds to be 

 obtained. Goldfinches build a fresh nest for each separate 

 brood, sometimes in a tree adjoining the one previously used ; 



