THE GOLDFINCH. 
sider an old goldfinch one of the most wary and suspicions of 
birds that fly. He will construe almost everything he does not 
understand, to mean “trap,” and take his measures accordingly. 
There was a goldfinch’s nest in a fruit tree that grew in the 
garden of a friend of mine, and it happened one day that a 
gust of wind carried away a strip of red cloth with which he 
was nailing up some wall-fruit, and lodged it upon the same 
branch where hung the nest. The parent birds were away at 
the time, and on then* return they were evidently much per- 
plexed to know what the red rag meant. They flew over it, 
under it, and then took a seat on an adjoining tree, and held a 
consultation about it. Meantime the fledglings in the nest, 
anxious for their dinner, set up a twittering that was quite 
audible where we stood ; but the birds dread of “ trap ” was 
even greater than their affection, and they continued to fly 
round about in the most uneasy way for at least three hours, 
when a friendly puff of wind carried off the red rag, and restored 
to their impatient nestlings their father and mother. 
Still the goldfinch may be caught, and the following is con- 
sidered to be one of the best methods. 
Take a singing goldfinch in his cage, some hazel twigs, some 
mistletoe bird-lime, and a bunch of thistle seeds. Stand your 
decoy beneath a bush in the neighbourhood 
of the goldfinches’ haunts, smear your 
twigs with the lime, and stick them, each 
with a spray of thistle-seed, about the 
upper parts of the bush. Let your bird- 
lime be the best, for the sort that will 
snare birds by the feathers will not always 
do so by the feet. They may also be 
taken among growing thistles with the 
“ hair noose,” a simple trap, consisting of 
a number of horsehair loops ranged on any 
number of pieces of string, attached to the 
stalks where the birds come to feed. 
Concerning Goldfinch ’.Nestlings. — In 
bringing nestlings up by hand considerable 
care and patience is requisite. For the 
first week they should be kept in a very 
’rap warm pl ace and in flannel, or, better still, 
finely-picked wool. Their food should be 
good white bread, scalded with new milk, and 
»ly dry. After the first week you may gradually 
