442 n.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



raised their heads after the manner of a chicken drinking. I gathered a large 

 bunch of the blossoms and in every one examined found several drops of clear 

 sweet liquid, Avith only a slight eucalyptus flavor. Later, I saw more siskins 

 drinking from flowers, also a junco. 



At Macon, Ga., in late December, a siskin was observed at borings 

 made by a yellow-bellied sapsucker in the trunk of a sweet gum. 

 The sapsucker chased it away (H. L. Batts, 1953). 



Field marks. — It is somewhat difficult to distinguish at a distance 

 between the pine siskin, the goldfinches, and the redpolls. Not only 

 do these various birds mingle in flocks, but their size, manner of flight, 

 call notes, and general habits, are all quite similar. The siskin, 

 however, is characterized in all seasons by its dusky-streaked plumage 

 (on grayish brown base above, more or less whitish or buffy below) 

 two light wing bars, and, usually, considerable yellow on the basal 

 portions of its wing and tail flight feathers. It has no red on its 

 crown or black on its throat as the redpolls do. Siskins in juvenal 

 plumage have the adult pattern but, for some time after they first 

 fly, they are readily distinguished from their elders at close range by 

 the worn plumage of the latter, the young being much huffier, their 

 underparts often tinged with pale yellow, and their overall appearance 

 lighter. Our siskin at any age is fairly similar in color and pattern 

 to the female and juvenal of Spinus spinus, the siskm of the Old 

 World — a species in which the adult male is redpoll-like in having a 

 crown patch (which is black in the siskin) and a blackish chin. 



Voice. — Various utterances frequently are compared with those of 

 the goldfinch, redpolls, and canary. Call notes are given in chorus, 

 especially when the birds alight or rest. Descriptive words commonly 

 used by describers of siskin caU notes are: weak, thin, lispy, buzzy, 

 wheezy, and chiu-ring. In general their caUs are more husky than 

 those of the American goldfinch. 



Ralph Hoflmann (1904) describes the common call note as "chee-ee 

 given in a husky tone; when flying it utters a note like the syllables 

 tit-i-tit. Another very sweet call, often given by a single bird to call 

 back the flock, is identical with a note of the American Goldfinch." 

 In winter at Anniston, Ala., R. H. Dean (1923) observes that, when 

 siskins took flight, their utterances were tit-i-te, tit-i-te, several times 

 in succession; sometimes notes were a smoother see-a-wee. On March 

 22 a new note was recorded, z-z-z-z-z (a prolonged 2), weak, as are 

 all the notes, but rather harsh. The z notes seem to be part of the 

 song, "a weak prolonged chittering performance interspersed with 

 the louder z-z-z-z notes." A. A. Saunders (1935) points out that the 

 siskin has an "undulatory flight, calling tit-a-tit with each undulation." 

 He also mentions a "husky but sweet swi-sieee, slurring upward at 

 the end, much like the Goldfinch's similar note, except for the huski- 



