WESTERN BIRDS Siskin 



among the alder catkins and willows which they seem 

 to enjoy as much as do the Goldfinches. 



They have the same way of bounding through the air 

 in undulating flight, frequently giving their call notes, 

 many of which resemble those of their yellow cousins. 



Dawson gives one note of the Siskins — a zum or zzeem, 

 which is different from that of any other species. 



In his "Birds of Washington" he tells us that the nests 

 of these birds are built in evergreen trees from a few 

 feet to a great height. Seen from below they might 

 easily be mistaken for accumulated trash rather than a 

 nest. In the midst of this pile they build the nest of 

 weed stalks, dead fir twigs, mosses, plant down and 

 hair, which may have a lining of finer material. Ac- 

 cording to the same authority these midgets are capable 

 of building a nest as elegant as that of the Audubon 

 Warbler, and one nest he found in Tacoma was for two 

 weeks passed by as that of a golden-crowned Kinglet — 

 so much did it resemble that bird's mode of archi- 

 tecture. 



Though these Siskins are not abundant in southern 

 California, I have sometimes seen small groups of them 

 eating weed seeds along the roadsides during the winter 

 months. They were not at all shy, only flying up to a 

 tree when I overtook them, and returning to their eating 

 when I had passed them by. 



If ever you come upon a flock of much-striped Spar- 

 row-like birds that are about five inches long, which in 

 flight show a yellow patch on each wing, and yellow 

 feathers on end of tails, you can safely feel that you 

 are beholding those cunning little birds — the Pine 

 Siskins. 



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