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GOLDFINCH.

Tue goldfinch is a small bird, not weighing above
half-an-ounce, but is one of the most beautiful and
harmonious we have. The bill is in the form of a
lengthened cone, light yellow, black at the base, with
a dark tip; the forehead, temples, and throat, bright
red; the cheeks and breast, yellowish brown; the wings,
bright yellow on the inner half, the other black, tipped
with white; the tail also is variegated black and white.

It builds in shrubs, and frequently in fruit trees, a
nest most exquisitely constructed. Grahame, in his
“Birds of Scotland,’ has well described in a few lines
the nest of this bird, and the situations in which it
chooses to build, which, it will be seen, vary considerably
at times in their character:—

“With equal art externally disguised,

But of internal structure passing far

The feathered concaves of the other tribes;

The goldfinch weaves, with willow down inlaid,
And cannach tufts, his wonderful abode.
Sometimes, suspended at the limber end

Of plane-tree spray, among the broad-leaved shoots,
The tiny hammock swings to every gale;
Sometimes in closest thickets ’tis conceal’d;
Sometimes in hedge luxuriant, where the brier,
The bramble, and the plum-tree branch,

Warp through the thorn, surmounted by the. flowers
Of climbing vetch, and honeysuckle wild.”

The notes of the goldfinch are not loud, but sweet
in an uncommon degree. It is extremely mild and
docile. If well attended to and gently treated, it will