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GOLDFINCH. 
GOLDIE. GOLD SPINK. THISTLE-FINCH. KING HARRY. 
BED-CAP. PROUD-TAIL. 
Carduelis eJegnns , 
Fringilla carduelis , 
I 
Carduelis—X bird that feeds on thistles. Carduus— A thistle. 
Elegans — Elegant. 
This lovely bird is one of the most beautifully-plumaged 
of our native species; its form at the same time is neat and 
graceful, and its gay exterior is accompanied by gentleness of 
nature, docility of habit, and sweetness of song. It need 
therefore hardly be added that it is a deserved favourite, 
and one only regrets to see it ever otherwise than in the 
cheerful enjoyment of its natural liberty. Individuals have 
been known to live ten years in captivity, continuing in. song 
; the greater part of each year. Willughby mentions one which 
lived in confinement for twenty-three years. 
In Europe it occurs from Siberia and Sweden to Greece, 
France, Spain, Crete, and Italy; in Asia also, in Asia Minor. 
In this country it is found in sufficient plenty throughout 
England and Wales, as also in the south of Scotland, but is 
certainly not so numerous as formerly. Whomever else ‘Free 
trade’ may be beneficial to, it is not so to the Goldfinch; 
for ‘Agricultural improvement,’ necessitated thereby, cuts off 
with the tops of the thistles, so ready otherwise to run to 
seed, the harvest which the bird would fain reap in the 
autumn and the winter. Those tracts, therefore, which still 
remain in their original and uncultivated state, and furnish 
accordingly the greater quantity of wild seed-bearing plants* 
are their most natural resort—the uncultivated common, the 
Macgtllivray. 
Linnaeus. Latham. 
