GOLDFINCH. 
223 
though he kept them for several years together, and supplied 
them with proper materials for building. Mr. Hassey, of New 
York, however, who keeps a great number of native as well as 
foreign birds, informed me, that a Yellow-bird paired with a 
Canary in his possession, and laid eggs, but did not hatch, which 
he attributed to the lateness of the season. 
These birds, as has been before observed, were seen by Mr. 
McKenzie, in his route across the continent of North America, 
as far North as lat. 54°; they are numerous in all the Atlantic 
states north of the Carolinas; abound in Mexico, and are also 
found in great numbers in the savannahs of Guiana. 
The seeds of the lettuce, thistle, hemp, &c. are their favour- 
ite food, and it is pleasant to observe a few of them at work on 
a calm day, detatching the thistle down in search of the seeds, 
making it fly in clouds around them. The figure on the plate 
represents this bird of its natural size. 
The American Goldfinch has been figured and described by 
Catesby,* who says that the back part of the head is a dirty 
green, &c. This description must have been taken while the 
bird was changing its plumage. At the approach of’ fall, not 
only the rich yellow fades into a brown olive ; but the spot of 
black on the crown and forehead, becomes also of the same 
olive tint. Mr. Edwards has also erred in saying that the young 
male bird has the spot of black on the forehead; this it does 
not receive until the succeeding spring. The figure in Edwards 
is considerably too large; and that by Catesby has the wings 
and tail much longer than in nature, and the body too slender; 
very difierent from the true form of the living bird. Mr. Pen- 
nant also tells us, that the legs of this species are black; they 
are, however, of a bright cinnamon colour; but the worthy natu- 
ralist, no doubt, described them as he found them in the dried 
and stuffed skin, shrivelled up and blackened with decay; and 
thus too much of our natural history has been delineated, 
Nat. Hist. Cju". vol. i, p. 43, 
