372 Caged Pair of Siskins 



We here repeat, from I. 276., an engraving on wood 

 (Jig. 34.) of Geoffroy's shrike, there given for comparison 

 with the engraving on copper in Griffith's Animal Kingdom, 

 from which the engraving on wood is copied, in proof of an 

 assertion adduced with it, that an engraving on wood is suffi- 

 cient to express the characters of such a bird, without the 



dred ; and we 

 quote from Griffith's Animal Kingdom this account of Geof- 

 froy's shrike itself. " Lastly [this is at the end of a long 

 list of species of shrikes], some have the bill straight [the 

 hook at the end is meant to be excepted] and slender, and 

 are remarkable for a crest of recurved feathers. — The genus 

 Prionops of Vieillot. — Geoffroy's shrike, Lath. H. 22. Lanius 

 plumatus Shaw. Vail. O. A., t. 80, 81. Prionops GeofFroyii 

 Vieillot, Gal. 142. — Blue-black, middle of the back, tips of 

 quills, and beneath white ; back of head and orbits dusky ; 

 two outer, and tips of other tail-feathers, white ; 7 in. long ? " 

 {Griff. A. K., vi. 286.) As Vaillant's work is quoted, we 

 suppose Geoffroy's shrike to inhabit Africa.] 



Art. III. Particulars on a caged Pair of Siskins', or Aberdevines', 

 building Nests and rearing a pair of young Siskins in Confine- 

 ment ; and a Statement of the Fact that the Siskin, wild, has 

 bred about Dundee. By William Gardiner, Jun., Esq. 



During the present season [1834], a friend of mine in this 

 town [Dundee], Mr. James Butchart, has succeeded in breed- 

 ing that interesting little songster, the siskin or aberdevine 

 (Fringilla Spinus Linn., Carduelis $pinus Cuv.) ; and I feel 

 much pleasure in communicating the following particulars, 

 which may, perhaps, be welcome to ornithological readers. 



About the 18th or 19th of June, 1834, a pair of siskins, 

 which my friend kept in a common breeding-cage commenced 



