400 



CARDUELIS SPINUS. THE BLACK-HEADED 

 THISTLEFINCH, OR SISKIN. 



SISKIN. ABERDEVINE. 



Fig. 67. 



Fringilla Spinus. Linn, Syst. Nat. I. 322. 



FringiUa Spinus. Lath. Ind, Oni. L 452. 



Siskin. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Gros-bec Tarin. FringiUa Spinus. Temm. Man. d'Orn. I. H/L 



Siskin. Carduelis Spinus. Selb. Illustr. I. 309. 



Fringilla Spinuc. Siokiu. Jen, Brit. Vert. An. 137. 



Male with the top of the head and the throat black ; Jhe hack 

 greyish-green ; the lower parts yelloic ; the sides ichite^ marked 

 with black streaks. Ferncde icith the upper jmrts greenish-grey., 

 streaked with black ; the loicer ichitish, tariegated icith narrow 

 black spots. 



Male. — The Siskin, although a beautiful bird, is less richly 

 coloured than the Goldfinch, to which it is also inferior in size, 

 being, next to the Redpoll Linnet, the smallest British bird of 

 the Passerine family. It is neat and compact in form, like the 

 smaller Linnets, but its bill most resembles that of the Gold- 

 finch, it being ho\Yever still more compressed towards the point, 

 which is extremely attenuated ; the upper mandible with its 

 dorsal outline very slightly convex, its ridge sharp, its tip ex- 

 tending a little beyond that of the lower, which has its outline 



