For
food they have seeds which she has carefully softened in her own crop.
As soon as the young birds can fly, she takes them to the fields where
the thistles grow.
In winter birds are thankful for food and shelter. The story is told of
a man who has part of his house-wall covered with cages. The finches
which live near his home find snug lodgings in these cages during the
cold weather. In the spring his feathered guests build their nests in
the cages and pay their rent by working in his garden. They are not
confined to the cages, but come and go as they please.
Their wild sweet notes seem to come from a happy heart, and nothing can
be prettier than to see a number of these goldfinches swinging on the
brown sunflower and daintily feasting on the seeds.
Mr. Frank M. Chapman in "Bird-Life" says: "I wish that every one knew
the Goldfinch. His gentle ways and sweet disposition are never-failing
antidotes for discontent. One cannot be long near a flock of these birds
without being impressed by the refinement which seems to mark their
every note and action. They show, too, a spirit of contentment from
which we may draw more than a passing lesson. 'HEAR ME, HEAR ME,
DEARIE,' they call as they feed among the weeds or on the birch buds,
and, no matter how poor the fare, they seem thankful for it.
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