The Goldfinch. 
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THE GOLDFINCH. 
(Fringilla carduelis, or Carduelis elegans.) 
This bird is also called the Thistlefinch, from his fondness 
for the seeds of that plant. He is very beautiful, his 
plumage being elegantly diversified, his form small, but 
pleasing, and his voice not loud, but sweet. He is easily 
tamed, and often exhibited as a captive, with a chain 
round his body, drawing up with trouble, but yet with 
.amazing dexterity, two small buckets, alternately, one 
containing his meat, the other his drink. If he is old when 
caught, the Goldfinch, after a few weeks, if well attended 
to, and gently treated, becomes as familiar as if he had been 
brought up by the hand of his keeper. Some have been 
taught to fire a small piece of artillery, and go through 
the drilling exercise, to the great astonishment of the 
spectators; but the cruel and severe treatment that 
animals undergo, when taught performances altogether 
contrary to their nature, should prevent us from en- 
couraging such exhibitions. 
This bird, as if conscious of the beauty of his plumage, 
likes to view himself in a glass, which is sometimes fixed 
for this purpose in the back of the cage. The art with 
which it composes and builds its nest is really worthy 
of admiration ; it is generally interwoven with moss, 
small twigs, horsehair, and other pliant materials ; the 
inside stuffed most carefully with fine down, and tufts of 
cotton grass. There the female deposits five or six eggs, 
