Lesson IX

The Canary and the Goldfinch

Leading thought—The canary is a very close relative of the common wild goldfinch. If we compare the habits of the two we can understand how a canary might live if it were free.

Method—Bring a canary to the schoolroom and ask for observations. Request the pupils to compare the canary with the goldfinches which are common in the summer. The canary offers opportunity for very close observation which will prove excellent training for the pupils for beginning bird study.

Observations—1. If there are two canaries in the cage are they always pleasant to each other? Which one is the “boss?” How do they show displeasure or bad temper? How do they show affection for each other?

2. Which one is the singer? Does the other one ever attempt to sing? What other notes do the canaries make besides singing? How do they greet you when you bring their food? What do they say when they are lonesome and hungry?

3. Does the singer have more than one song? How does he act while singing? Why does he throw back his head like an opera singer when singing?

4. Are the canaries all the same color? What is the difference in color between the singer and the mother bird? Describe the colors of each in your note book as follows: Top and sides of head, back, tail, wings, throat, breast and under parts.

5. What does the canary eat? What sort of seeds do we buy for it? What seeds do we gather for it in our garden? Do the goldfinches live on the same seeds? What does the canary do to the seeds before eating them? What tools does he use to take off the shells?

6. Notice the shape of the canary’s beak. Is it long and strong like a robin’s? Is it wide and sharp so that it can shell seeds? If you should put an insect in the cage would the canary eat it?

7. Why do we give the canary cuttlebone? Note how it takes off pieces of the bone. Could it do this if its beak were not sharp?

8. Note the actions of the birds when they drink. Why do they do this?

9. Can you see the nostrils? Where are they situated? Why can you not see the ear?

10. When the canary is interested in looking at a thing how does it act? Look closely at its eyes? Does it wink? How does it close its eyes? When it is drowsy can you see the little inner lid come from the corner of the eye nearest the beak? Is this the only lid?

11. How are the legs and feet covered? Describe the toes. Compare the length of the claw with the length of the toe. What is the shape of the claw? Do you think that such shaped claws and feet are better fitted for holding to a branch than for walking? Note the arrangement of the toes when the bird is on its perch. Is the hind toe longer and stronger? If so, why? Do the canaries hop or walk about the bottom of the cage?

12. What is the attitude of the canary when it goes to sleep at night? How does it act when it takes a bath? How does it get the water over its head? Over its back? What does it do after the bath? If we forget to put in the bath dish how does the bird get its bath?

NESTING HABITS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE SPRING

13. When the canaries are ready to build a nest what material do we furnish them for it? Does the father bird help the mother to build the nest? Do they strip off the paper on the bottom of the cage for nest material? Describe the nest when it is finished.

14. Describe the eggs carefully. Does the father bird assist in sitting on the eggs? Does he feed the mother bird when she is sitting?

15. How long after the eggs are laid before the young ones hatch? Do both parents feed the young? Do they swallow the food first and partially digest it before giving it to the young?

16. How do the very young birds look? What is their appearance when they leave the nest? Does the color of their plumage resemble that of the father or the mother?

17. Where did the canaries originally come from? Find the place on the map.

Supplementary reading—“A Caged Bird,” Sarah Orne Jewett in Songs of Nature, p. 75; True Bird Stories, Miller.

The Goldfinch

Leading thought—Goldfinches are seen at their best in late summer or September when they appear in flocks wherever the thistle seeds are found in abundance. Goldfinches so resemble the canaries in form, color, song and habits that they are called wild canaries.

Method—The questions for this lesson should be given to the pupils before the end of school in June. The answers to the questions should be put in their field note-books and the results be reported to the teacher in class when the school begins in the autumn.

Observations—1. Where do you find the goldfinches feeding? How can you distinguish the father from the mother birds and from the young ones in color?

2. Describe the colors of the male goldfinch and also of the female as follows: Crown, back of head, back, tail, wings, throat, breast and lower parts. Describe in particular the black cap of the male.

3. Do you know the song of the goldfinch? Is it like the song of the canary? What other notes has the goldfinch?

4. Describe the peculiar flight of the goldfinches. Do they fly high in the air? Do you see them singly or in flocks usually?

5. Where do the goldfinches stay during the winter? What change takes place in the coat of the male during the winter? Why? What do they live upon during the winter?

6. At what time of year do the goldfinches build their nests? Why do they build these so much later than other birds? Describe the nest. Where is it placed? How far above the ground? How far from a stream or other water? Of what is the outside made? The lining? What is the general appearance of the nest? Do you think the goldfinches wait until the thistles are ripe in order to gather plenty of food for their young, or to get the thistle down for their nests? What is the color of the eggs?

Supplementary reading—True Bird Stories, Miller, pp. 6, 9, 26, 45; The Second Book of Birds, Miller, p. 82; Our Birds and Their Nestlings, Walker, pp. 180, 200.

Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop
From low-hung branches; little space they stop,
But sip, and twitter, and their feathers sleek,
Then off at once, as in a wanton freak;
Or perhaps, to show their black and golden wings;
Pausing upon their yellow flutterings.

—John Keats.