Show Out of Doors in the West Sketches of Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau Edited by J. H. Professor of Study tn the University of The Debonair Bird in Black and Yellow Notes on the Goldfinch by Several and on the Utah Species by S. H. i You didn't did that the goldfinch stays with us all He you have failed to recognize Large flocks of goldfinches are now in the fields or on the eating weed They resemble sparrows but there are white marks on wings and and the long call of which the birds will tell you what they really Look out for them in and you will surely find the subject of the following A BEAUTIFUL The American goldfinch is a beautiful widely distributed over Utah and the The in spring has a canary-yellow black wings and the wings with white bars and the tail with patches of It is smaller than the English being under five inches in The female has upper parts olive sometimes tinged with green or and tail blackish white markings under parts grayish tinged with In winter the male resembles the summer who has become more brown and but his wings are still a deep clearly marked with generally wear the russet dress of says have their no less than the the bright tints depart from their foliage of and they flit past like withered leaves in rustling Make Up in What goldfinches lack in size they make up in admirable Except during the short mating associate in and live a nomadic Their undulating mode of flight seems to express joy and and when they add it is the very abandon of Even in when the fields are brown and the trees are a flock of goldfinches adds the charm of life to an otherwise dead The goldfinch but not to the extent that the truly migratory species The for desert their summer after making long journeys' spend the winter beyond the limits of the United the on the gradually move southward as far as the Gulf and in winter are found from the Gulf coast as far north as the latitude of central New Their breeding range is spend their Some of them go to the provinces and others But the sublime heights of the they are required to make a journey of only a say from five to one hundred or according to the locality slightly up the defiles and canyons or over the to find the conditions as to nesting that are precisely to their The wind blowing down to their haunts from the snowy summits carries on its wings the same keenness and invigoration that they would find if they went to British where the breezes would descend from the regions of snow and ice beyond the Arctic In our mountains there is almost endless variety in the bird Some species breed far above timber line in the thickets that invade the open or clamber far up the steep mountain as the from the Carolinas westward to the Rocky mountains and northward to the British provinces and southern consequently they are permanent residents in a large part of the United where their migratory and breeding ranges There are several closely related forms or sub-species of the goldfinch found in the as the pale goldfinch in the Rocky Mountain district and the Arkansas goldfinch in southeastern Utah and About Bird These facts suggest a few-words about bird In Rocky mountains there is a great difference between the movement of birds with the seasons and the seasonal flight of the same species in regions of a comparatively low As every one many birds hie to the far north in order to find the proper climatic conditions in which to rear their broods and to ascend still building their nests on the bald summits of the loftiest peaks at an altitude of fourteen thousand feet and living all summer long in an atmosphere that as rare as it is pure and Among the familiar species that have representatives both on the plains and far up in the mountain parks and are the western the western meadowlark and the mountain These range high and being found practically Two-fold Every style of migratory habit may be observed in our wonderful There a twofold migrating current a movement up and down the mountain and another north and The migratory area thus a perfect network of lines of Some species summer in the mountains and winter on the others summer in the pass down to the plains in the then way farther south ito Central even South Amera spend the winter this order on their return I north m the e pass through this l m vernal and auw e stopping for a but spending ftp summer nor the winter 0 still others come f from the remote north on of and winter this either on the l in the sheltering ravines l ests of the and fi return to the north in the there are species t remain here all the year m some of them in the others on the and oft R again in both t I Those Scientific The scientific names birds are long and hard to unless we associates with their Tha possible in most our Rocky Mom like a great many oA of our is lighter in than the eastern asi called the pale I 1 named the former spa The second part of the Wit may be recognized at once as Latin word for it the rather plaintive note dm bird when on the The In part of the name has prickly on which the m finch loves to being ly fond of the seeds of are most noxious J On this account W thinks this bird should be terest to the agriculture every thistle along the is prolific source of When you see the silvery thistle ornamented this animated bit of that know you may of her is interposing one checks to the too rapid of weed Every saves the farmer much by destroying weed form the bulk of its food W although during the season it gives to its yo 1 animal f of insects of various Besides its sad are two other melan-fely facts about the life of the Its love of prickly fed seeds causes it to feed on those of the and fe hooked barbs of the seeds on he weedy burrs' of this monster sometimes catch and hold Wee birds till they die of and exhaustion in their Efforts to Another fact is that boys often lull these pretty and beneficial can now remember one name of the our own species is A. T. the last part meaning pale m because our bird is especially in than the and the markings on wings and tail Pe more The East and the difference between the and the western forms in in other is so frequent that in the t you will look in vain for the blue so abundant in of the east yet you will more than compensated by the of seven other species of jay wood-backers of the west one are different from those the so are the f the the ori- the the humming and many of the of the purple and bronzed the boast of whose habits not as prosaic as his name Jim Crow shuns mountains for reasons to not so the the and that Clark's of which keeps the bird-lover the east in an ecstasy of until he has become ac- to his changed Its Debonair he author just quoted tells of Meeting on his daily morning with the debonair as he has received its bungle- je not from the state of but from the Arkansas a stream that dashes down jOm the mountains and flows through the southern W of nattily mj little bird wears his black is olive-green and his bright yellow You will see at once that he dresses differently the American so well known the for hat just as well known on the plains of where both species dwell in There are some white markings on the wings of A. that give them a gauze-like appearance when they are rapidly song and some of his calls bear a close resemblance to those of the common but he is by no means a mere duplicate of that he has an individuality of his his flight is the waviness is not so deeply and distinctly nor does he sing a cheery cradle-song while swinging through the although he often utters a series of unmusical derive from lectures before my classes the following additional and more specific local information about these Where Found in The goldfinch is found all over and is a resident Not only does it build its nest and rear its young in our but it remains within our borders throughout the It has various according to such as the thistle-bird and lettuce-bird because of its well known fondness for seeds of these plants the black-capped yellow-bird and wild In the southern part of the state the common form is replaced largely though not entirely by the Arkansas a less strikingly colored I found the Arkansas goldfinch common at Buff in San Juan June 24 July and a little later at on the Colorado in the and at Kanosh and On July 1 sat on the great stone shelf which forms a part of one of the abutments of the Caroline White canyon and within a few feet of the ruins of a cliff dweller's house that had been erected upon the same shelf two of these birds came into a small cottonwood tree near me and remained for some occasionally calling to each other with their characteristic and finally disappearing down the accentuating their bounding flight with the The Wavering The flight of the goldfinch is bounding like that of the but unlike the flicker it does not fly as though on business Its movements are apparently without direction like a tiny craft without steering It seems never to know just what its destination is to so after making a few bounds in one it appears to find the exertion too turns slides down the and at last flutters down to a spot not far distant from its s arting Its Attractive The song of this bird is peculiarly sweet and There is nothing or intrusive about but it is and carries This music is heard to the best advantage during the nuptial Then it is prolonged and a flock of them may be heard singing in The most common note of this bird is the familiar already referred and the flight-note The Winter With the approach of fall the male goldfinch lays aside his brilliant colors and dons a garb much like the one worn by his Then the observer in the field must learn to recognize his acquaintances by other And these are not wanting in the The white bars on the the uncertain and the unmistakable call-notes s-w-e-e-t and per chic o pee will always give the necessary Food and The in common with the other members of the great family to which it is a its food habits therefore make it of economic The and many other weed have a persistent foe in this and since he remains with us throughout the his labors are correspondingly valuable to the grower of On New Year's day of last year I found a flock of nearly two hundred of these birds feeding in a large patch of the Rocky Mountain Bee-Plant ser- At this time of year goldfinches are to be met in along fence wherein weeds have been allowed to mature in fields and pastures in weeds are to be found and they are always busy working for the owners of the In the nesting season they destroy many like other they feed their young a large per cent of insect These rovers are most desirable tenants on any they do no but render invaluable service in our ceaseless fight against Cleanly and Dutcher remarks that goldfinches are very cleanly in their habits and indulge in frequent the border of a shallow pool is an excellent place to study this as it is not an uncommon sight to see a number of the brightly colored males gathered During the breeding season the parent birds seem to have a well defined route from the nest to a common watering The nesting site may be in an evergreen or deciduous bush or and the nest may be built only a few feet from the ground or at considerable where it is saddled on or attached to a forked The nest itself is an exquisite piece of bird compactly built of dried leaves and shreds of the outside being embellished with which Audubon says are attached by The inside of the nest is lined with the softest The mother bird is the builder of this tasteful her handsome during her nest building devoting most of his efforts to singing cheer to his industrious After the four to six bluish white eggs have been the singing partner has more work to for he has to feed his brooding His frequent visits are always announced with a sweet conversational which he seems able to give even though his bill is filled with What is the difference between the trunk of a tree and an elephant's One leaves in the spring and the other leaves whenever the menagerie |