The Elbert County tribune., 1908-07-23

sweeping curves, dropping downward
and forward, mounting again to a
point in the horizontal plane of it's de-
parture and then down again, up
again, following course which shows
a constant succession of the curved
lines of beauty.
The goldfinch almost Invariably
sings as it flies. adding the music of
its voice to the rhythm of its move
ment. The goldfinch (spinus tristis)
is just now building its nest. The
robins have their second broods well
on the way to caring for themselves;
the blackbirds are fiocking for their
late summer foraging, and the native
sparrows have deserted their second
homes Of the season. but the goldfinch,
laggard in love. If just beginning to
think of domestic joys.
There is curious feature In the life
of our friend in yellow and black.
He makes one plant serve for his
board and lodging. The seeds of the
thistle are the choicest morsels in the
goldfinch's bill of fare. 1t eats, with
its fellows, millions upon millions of
the seeds of this farmers pest yearly,
and in the eating kills the life germ
of the seed. From the downy part of
the thistle top the goldfinch makes the
lining of its nest. Literally the bird
makes the thistle furnish forth both
bed and board.
1t has been supposed that the rea-
son for the late mating and nesting OF
the goldfinches is that they wish to
wait until their favorite food and
their favorite building material have
been put upon the market in a ripened
state by the rays of the sun. It is true
that occasionally the goldfnch will
take other downy stuff to form a couch
for its young. They will pull soft bits
from the raveled end of clothes line
and make it answer the purpose of
thistle down, and a bit OF waste cot
ton fills their little hearts with de-
light. But it is to the thistle that they
turn with all the devotion of true
son of Scotland.
The goldfinch doffs his yellow and
black garb in the early fall and puts
on somber habit like that which his
mate wears throughout the year. Per
sons who have seen the bird in sum-
mer and who have been struck by its
beauty of plumage have thought that
1t disappeared with the other birds
when the cold weather came on. Our
goldfinch is no immigrant, however.
He is nearly as cheerful in winter as
he is in summer, and he picks up
precarious living In the snowclad
fields and the snow-filled forests all
through the howlings of winter. No,
the goldfnch has not deserted us for
the southland. He has simply changed
his coat
Master Goldfinch is a devoted hus-
band and father. He feeds his sitting
mate, and, when the young are in the
nest, he shares with her the duty of
filling their hungry mouths. Recently
in order to secure satisfactory pic
tire of a goldfnch home and young 1t
became necessary to cut away the
leaves which shielded the nest from
the hot July sun. When the mother
bird felt that the heat of MONDAY was
too great for the little ones she placed
herself upon the edge of the nest and,
spreading her wings, formed canopy
over her offspring There she stayed
until the sun had passed beyond the
point of It's greatest power, and while
she remained at her POST the gallant
husband brought food for both mother
and young.
There is another bird which. like