40 



HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb. 1, 1869. 



spray preparatory to a new flight, or descending 

 jerkily to some tall reed or thistle-head only to 

 return to the favourite tree. A prettier sight than 

 a little flock of Siskins thus engaged, can scarcely 

 be imagined, and while the eye is pleased with their 

 ever-varying attitudes, the ear is charmed with their 

 incessant merry notes ; for they are by no means 

 silent at their work. A pleasing twitter, uttered, 

 as it were, half aloud, serves as much to keep the 

 flock together, as to express the high spirits of the 

 individuals which compose it. 



A great friend of the Siskin is the Lesser Redpole, 

 and the two species are frequently to be seen in 

 company, but we must confine our attention for the 

 present to the former bird. Although as a general 



Scotland." In Ireland the Siskin has only been 

 noticed as an occasional winter visitant.* 



The nest and eggs resemble those of the Goldfinch 

 upon a smaller scale, and some authors, taking into 

 consideration the structural similarity of these two 

 birds have separated them from the true FrinyiUidtP 

 and placed them in a genus by themselves under the 

 generic name Carduelis. 



Meyer has found the nest of the Siskin so near 

 London as Coombe Wood, Wimbledon Common; 

 and as the eggs taken were afterwards hatched 

 under a canary, there was no doubt about the 

 identity of the species. 



In the third volume of his "Illustrations of British 

 Birds and their Eggs " (p. 97) the above-named 



Eig. 37. The Siskin. 



rule remaining with us only from November to 

 April, there are many instances on record of the 

 Siskin having remained to nest in England, and we 

 are satisfied that in some parts of Scotland, this bird 

 breeds regularly every year. Mr. A. G. More, who 

 has been at considerable pains to ascertain the 

 distribution of birds in Great Britain during the 

 nesting season, says of the Siskin :* " The nest 

 has been found in Lancashire (Yarrett) ; near 

 Walton Hall (Waterton) ; in Durham {Hancock and 

 Rev. II. B. Tristram) ; and in Westmoreland (Bolton 

 quoted by Montagu). In the South of Scotland, the 

 Siskin breeds occasionally in Dalswinton Woods, 

 Dumfriesshire (Gibson) ; in Kirkcudbright {Yarrett); 

 within two miles of Glasgow (R. Gray) ; in Perth- 

 shire perhaps regularly; in Argylcshire; and, though 

 not numerous as a species, may be considered to 

 nest regularly in most of the northern counties of 



* The Ibis fox I860, p. 129. 



author gives an interesting account of two other 

 nests of the Siskin which he found, — the one at 

 St. Anne's Hill, Chertsey, and the other "in a wild 

 straggling hedge in the open plain bordering the 

 Thames, at no great distance." In both cases the 

 parent bird was distinctly seen upon the nest. 



To this account, and to some remarks by that 

 excellent observer Charles St. John (which may be 

 found in his "Nat. Hist, and Sport in Moray," 

 p. 110), we refer such of our readers as seek further 

 information than we have given. 



To those who know the Siskin only as a cage-bird, 

 we say, study him in his proper haunts ; steal quietly 

 to the alder, pine, or birch tree ; watch his merry 

 antics, and listen to his sprightly song ; and we ven- 

 ture to say that the pleasure to be thus derived will 

 far outweigh any that can arise from the contem- 

 plation of a solitary captive. J. E. Harting. 



* Thompson's " Nat. Hist, of Ireland," vol. i. p. 264. 



