The American Goldfinch

Length about five inches.

Male in summer: bright clear yellow, with a black cap, and the wings and
tail black with some white on both.

Female at all times, and male in winter: light flaxen brown, the wings
and tail as before, but less distinctly marked with white, and no black
cap.

A Citizen of temperate North America, and a good neighbor.

Belongs to the guild of Weed Warriors, and is very useful.

THE SNOWFLAKE

(THE AUTUMN LEAF)

"It is a very warm day to talk about snowstorms and winter birds, but
several of these birds belong to the Finch family," said the Doctor, a
few mornings later, as the children went through the old pasture down to
the river woods in search of a cool quiet place to spend the morning.
The sun was hot, and most of the birds were hiding in the shade trees.
"But as the Snowflake will walk next to the Goldfinch in the procession
of Bird Families I am going to show you after a while, we must have him
now." "I think a cool bird will be very nice for a warm day," said
Dodo. "Something like soda water and ice cream. That makes me
think--Mammy Bun was cracking ice this morning, and I wonder what for!"

"I wonder!" said Olive, laughing.

"I know," said Nat, who was a tease; "it must be to bake a cake with!"

[Illustration: Snowflake.]

"Here is a nice place for us," said the Doctor, who had walked on ahead,
"where we can see over the fields and into the woods by only turning our
heads, and the moss is so dry that we may sit anywhere we please.

"The trees are in full leaf now," he continued, looking up as he leaned
comfortably against the trunk of an oak that spread its high root ridges
on each side of him like the arms of a chair. "The spring flowers are
gone, strawberries are ripe, and there is plenty of food and shelter for
birds here. But if we were to travel northward, beyond the United States
and up through Canada, we should find that the trees were different;
that there were more pines and spruces. Then if we went still further
north, even these would begin to grow more scanty and stunted, until the
low pines in which the Grosbeak nests would be the only trees seen. Then
beyond this parallel of latitude comes the 'tree limit'--"

"Oh, I know what a 'parallel of latitude' is, because I learned it in my
geography," said Dodo, who had been pouting since Nat teased her about
the cracked ice; "it's a make-believe line that runs all round the world
like