for their nesting-place some large maples that grow by the southwest wall of the garden, extending their branches over a waste field, where dandelions, thistles, Wild asters, and goldenrod hold sway. A little before this time flocks of birds assemble about the garden and every Jack chooses his Jill, or vice versa. There is no more cheerful and confiding garden companion than this Goldfinch. Seen even at a distance his markings are distinct, his identity complete; you do not have to puzzle or worry, but simply enjoy his society; he does not wish your berries, but helps you remove the dandelion down from the lawn before the wind sows it broadcast, and all the while you hear Canary-like music, but wilder and more joyous, from behind a twig lattice instead of cage bars.
The black cap gives the male a ferocious look, wholly at variance with his character, while his mate is agreeably feminine and gentle. These birds combine the rich colours, which we associate with the tropics, and the stout-hearted, cold-enduring New England nature, softened by the most agreeably cosmopolitan manners. If you wish them to live with you and honour your trees with their nests, plant sunflowers in your garden, zinnias, and coreopsis; leave a bit of wild grass somewhere about With its mass of composite. Coax the wild clematis everywhere that it can gain footing; and in winter, when these joyous birds, gathered in flocks, are roving, hard-pressed for food, scatter some sweepings of bird seed about their haunts, repaying in this their silent season, their summer melody.
- Length
- 4.75 inches.
- Male and Female
- Striped generally; above olive-brown and gray, darkest on head and back. Below lighter, sometimes having a decidedly sulphur-yellow tinge on rump and base of wing and tail feathers. Bill and feet brown.
- Song
- Resembling that of the American Goldfinch, but in is more fretful key, and seldom heard in this locality.
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