The song remains at its best all
through the summer months, for the bird is a long wooer. It is nearly July
before he mates, and not until the tardy cedar birds are house-building in the
orchard do the happy pair begin to carry grass, moss, and plant-down to a
crotch of some tall tree convenient to a field of such wild flowers as will
furnish food to a growing family. Doubtless the birds wait for this food to be
in proper condition before they undertake parental duties at all
-- the most plausible excuse for their late nesting. The cares evolving from
four to six pale-blue eggs will suffice to quiet the father's song for the
winter by the first of September, and fade all the glory out of his shining
coat. As pretty a sight as any garden offers is when a family of goldfinches
alights on the top of a sunflower to feast upon the oily seeds -- a perfect
harmony of brown and gold.
EVENING GROSBEAK (Coccothraustes vespertinus) Finch family
Length -- 8 inches. Two inches shorter than the robin.
Male -- Forehead, shoulders, and underneath clear yellow: dull
yellow on lower back; sides of the head, throat, and breast
olive-brown. Crown, tail, and wings black, the latter with
white secondary feathers. Bill heavy and blunt, and yellow.
Female -- Brownish gray, more less suffused with yellow.
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