THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.
Fringilla tristis, Linnæus; Le Chardonneret jaune, Buffon; Der Gelbe Stieglitz, Bechstein.
This bird is as large as a linnet, its length being about four inches and a third. The beak and feet are whitish; the iris is nut-brown; the forehead is black, and the rest of the body yellow.
The female has no black on the forehead; the upper part of her body is of an olive green; the throat, breast and rump of a bright yellow; the belly and vent white; the wings and tail blackish.
The young males at first exactly resemble the females, the only difference being the black forehead.
These birds build twice a year, in spring and autumn. Edwards says that they also moult twice, so that it is only during the summer that they are of the colours described above. In the winter the top of the male’s head is black; the throat, neck, and breast, yellow; the rump also yellow, but of a whitish hue; the feathers of the back olive brown, lighter at the edges; the wings and the tail black, with white edges to almost all the feathers.
The female is generally of a lighter colour, and the top of the head is not black: thus we perceive that in winter these birds very much resemble our siskins.
Observations.—These American birds repair in the summer in great numbers to the state of New York; they live on the seeds of different kinds of thistles, like our goldfinches, and eat the same food when caged. They are easily tamed, and sometimes even lay in captivity. Their eggs are of a pearl gray, but I am ignorant whether they are ever productive in confinement.