GOLD-Finch, in ornithology. See FRINGILLA.
These are feed-birds of very curious colours, and which, were they not so common in this country, would probably be very much esteemed.
VOL. VIII. Part I.
They are usually taken about Michaelmas, and soon become tame; but they differ very much in their song.—They frequently breed in the upper part of plum-trees, making their nests of the moss that grows upon apple-trees, and of wool; quilting the inside with all sorts of hairs they find upon the ground. They breed three times a-year; and the young are to be taken with the nest at about ten days old, and fed as follows:—Pound some hemp-feed very fine in a mortar; then sift it through a sieve, and add to it as much wheat-bread as hemp-feed; and likewise a little flour of canary-seeds: then with a small stick or quill take up as much as the bigness of a white-pea, and give them several times a-day. This ought to be made fresh every day: for if it is suffered to sour, it will spoil their stomachs, causing them to cast up their meat; which if they do, it is very probable that they will die.—These young birds must be carefully kept warm till they can feed themselves, for they are very tender. In feeding, be sure to make your bird clean his bill and mouth. If any of the meat falls upon his feathers, take it off, or else he will not thrive. Such as eat hemp-feed, to purge them, should have the seeds of melons, succory, and mercury; or else let them have lettuce and plantane for that purpose. When there is no need of purging, give them two or three times a-week a little sugar or loam in their meat, or at the bottom of the cage; for all feeds have an oiliness, so that if they have not something to absorb it, in length of time it fouls their stomachs, and brings on them a flux, which is very dangerous.