f 
THE GOLDFINCH. 
the base of the beak; the chin and reins, black; the vertex 
black, terminating in a stripe, which passes the back of the 
head, and descends the neck on each side; on the top of the 
neck, there is a white spot; the cheeks and front of the neck, 
white; the back of the neck and back are of a beautiful 
brown; the rump whitish, with a brownish tinge; the longer 
feathers are black; both sides of the breast and the flanks of a 
bright-brown; the middle of the breast, the belly, and the 
vent, whitish, many of the feathers having a brownish tinge; 
the thighs, greyish; the pinion feathers, velvet-black, with 
whitish tips, which are smallest in old birds, and are sometimes 
wanting in the first two feathers; the middle of the external 
THE GOLDFINCH, 
web with a golden-colored stripe an inch long, which, in con¬ 
junction with the golden yellow tips of the hinder large coverts, 
forms a beautiful spot; the coverts otherwise black; the tail 
slightly forked and black; the two, and sometimes the first 
three pinion feathers having a white spot in the centre of the 
inner web; the rest with white tips; sometimes also the third 
is likewise entirely black at the sides. 
The female is a little smaller, not so broadly and beautifully 
red about the beak; the chin brownish ; the cheeks intermixed 
with bright-brown; the small coverts of the wings, brown, and 
the back of a deeper dark-brown. 
BREEDING. 
The female goldfinch rarely lays more than once a-year, 
i (consequently these birds do not greatly multiply,) and ther 
is*— -—————-——— 
