14 
THE GOLDFINCH. 
she entered the cage and fed as usual, leaving her 
companion, who appeared rather more shy, sitting 
on the outside wires of the cage, from whence he 
shortly flew to a neighbouring tree, until she joined 
him. They then went away, and were absent s© 
long, that nobody thought anything more about 
them; when, at the end of seven or eight weeks, 
she again made her appearance, accompanied not 
only by her former companion, but by four full- 
grown young ones, when she entered the cage and 
fed as usual. But as she could not persuade her 
brood to follow her example, she finally went off, 
and from that time was never seen again. 
Small birds seldom live above eight or ten years, 
but Goldfinches have been known to live sixteen or 
eighteen years. We have the authority of a very 
eminent naturalist*, for one having attained to the 
age of twenty-three years; at last it grew so infirm, 
that the people to whom it belonged were obliged to 
scrape its beak and claws, that it might eat, drink, 
and sit upon its perch. It had subsisted on poppy- 
seeds chiefly, and had lost its power of flying, and 
all its feathers had become white, which is contrary 
to what has been usually observed in aged small 
birds, whose plumage, at times, assumes a darker 
shade, particularly if fed much upon hemp-seed. 
Thus, there are instances of Goldfinches, Bullfinches, 
and Larks, becoming almost entirely black. 
So nearly allied are Canaries to Goldfinches, 
that they will breed together, and the produce is a 
very pretty bird (called a Mule), with a strong clear 
voice, which, in addition to its scarcity, causes it to 
* Gesner. 
