OUR HOME BIRDS. 
169 
“ These birds 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 afterward line 
the inside with the softest downy substances they can 
lirocure. There are five eggs of a dull white, thickly 
marked at the greater end. 
“ The goldfinch is easily tamed, and has been 
known to live many years in a cage. The birds 
often undergo very cruel discipline, like the canaries, 
to make them perform many surprising tricks. ‘ One 
was taught to draw water for its drink from a glass, 
having a little chain attached to a narrow belt of soft 
leather fastened around its body, and another equally 
light chain fastened to a little bucket kept by its 
weight in the water until the little fellow raised it 
up with his bill, placed a foot upon it, and pulled 
again at the chain until it reached the desired fluid 
and drank ; when, on letting go, the bucket im- 
mediately fell into the glass below. In the same 
manner it was obliged to draw toward its bill a little 
chariot filled with seeds, and in this distressing oc- 
cupation was doomed to toil through a life of soli- 
tary grief, separated from its companions, who were 
wantoning on the wild flowers and procuring 
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