GOLDFINCH.
GWAS Y FIERRI. PENETTR1 N, OK THE ANCIENT BRITISH.
GOI.OSI'INK. I'll [STLE-FINCH. G OLDIE. KING HARRY. RED-CAP.
PROtTD-TAIL.
Carduelts elegans, MACGILLIVR,U .
Fringilla carduelis, LlNKSUS. LATHAM.
Carduetis—A bird that feeds on thistles. Carduus—A thistle. Elegans—
Elegant.
THIS lovely bird is one one of the most bcautifully-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, and some even sixteen and
eighteen. \Villughby mentions one which lived in confinement for
twenty-three years.
In Europe it occurs from Sweden to Greece and the Archipelago,
France, Spain, Crete, and Italy; in Asia also, in Siberia, Northern
India, and 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 readv 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