The goldfinch is taught to go and come at command, without any danger of losing it, much sooner than the linnet, though the latter learns quite as soon to build in the room. To accomplish this feat the winter should be chosen, and the cage, containing a goldfinch that has not been rendered tender by having been too long accustomed to the heat of the room, must be placed on the outside of the window every day, or on a shelf intended for it, and where the mice cannot reach it. Hemp seed must be scattered round, and a bunch of thistle heads fastened by the side, the seeds of which should be mixed with the hemp seed. Presently one or more goldfinches, attracted by the call of the prisoner, collect, to take advantage of the scattered food; as soon as you have succeeded so far it is useless to let the decoy remain any longer exposed to the cold, which may injure it. It will be quite sufficient to place the cage within the window, and to put on the outside a cage as a trap, not for the sake of catching these birds, but to scare away the sparrows, that would soon eat up all the seed unless thus prevented; and in order that the trap may only close when you wish, the door should be supported by a string, passing into the room, and loosened, to catch the sparrows, but the goldfinches should be allowed to go in and out at pleasure, till the snow is on the point of disappearing, then close the trap on those you wish to keep: the birds thus captured should be placed in a cage, where they will soon grow tame, and learn to go and return to it. Whatever form this cage is of, the door should be hung so as to remain open as long as is required, and be closed without noise or alarming the bird, either by means of a spring, that may be acted on by the bird, without his perceiving it, or by his pushing the door of it open on the inside. When a goldfinch has been thus trained it may be let fly without fear the following August, at the time of moulting. It is true that it will be lost for some time, but it will not fail to return in December, when the ground is covered with snow, and it will sing much more sweetly than it would had it been kept prisoner. As soon as it has flown, a cage should constantly be hung outside the window, and seeds placed in it, that, if it should chance to return, it may find food; but it is rarely seen again till winter: at that time the cage should be so arranged that the door may be closed as soon as the bird enters, as it used to do in the room; the surest way is to attract it by a call bird. It must not be allowed to come out so often as before, and it will remain, without injury, shut up till the season arrives for giving it its liberty again. The same course may be pursued for the tit, and with still more success for the chaffinch, which does not enter the snares of the bird-catcher as easily as the others.