178 SERIN. 



to North-western India, is found S. pusilliis, the male of which has 

 a red forehead and black throat and cheeks. The Serin has been 

 introduced in the United States. 



The nest, placed in the fork of some tree or about breast-high 

 in a bush, is built of fine roots, bents, lichens and grey moss, with 

 a lining of softer materials. The 4-5 eggs are pale greenish-white, 

 with light reddish-brown spots and a few darker blotches : measure- 

 ments ■61 by '47 in. The food chiefly consists of various kinds of 

 seeds. The song resembles the word zi-zi often repeated, and a 

 flock of birds settled in a tree produces a peculiar buzzing or 

 almost hissing sound. 



Adult male in breeding-plumage : forehead, a line over each eye, 

 rump, throat and breast, bright yellow ; cheeks and upper parts olive, 

 with dark brown streaks ; greater wing-coverts and secondaries edged 

 with dull white ; quills and tail brown, margined with pale yellow ; 

 belly white ; flanks boldly streaked with brown ; bill horn-brown ; 

 legs pale brown. Length 4*5 ; wing 27 in. Female: much less 

 yellow and more striated. In winter both sexes are duller in colour ; 

 while the young in their first autumn exhibit hardly any yellow tint. 



Examples of the subspecies Seriitus canaria, peculiar to the 

 Canaries, Madeira and the Azores, have been taken in England, 

 and, although cages-full are known to be imported, there are persons 

 who wish to believe that the individuals captured are not escaped 

 birds, but genuine wanderers from a warm to an inhospitable climate ! 

 The aforesaid Rev. W. Hazel has stated (Nat. 1853, p. 20) that the 

 African Serinus icterus ( Crithagra chrysopyga of Swainson), was taken 

 near Portsmouth. Mr. Langton has recorded (Zool. 1886, p. 490) 

 that, among the rarities obtained by the late Mr. Swaysland of 

 Brighton, there was a " Citril Finch" taken alive on October 14th ; 

 but on examination the bird proved to be a freely-imported South 

 African species, Serums canicollis, another specimen of which has 

 since been captured. Montagu mentioned an example of the American 

 Cyattospiza ciris, taken near Portland in 1802, which he, with his 

 accustomed good sense, naturally presumed to have escaped from 

 confinement. Another American species, the " White-throated 

 Sparrow," Zonotrichia albicoUis (which is really a Bunting), having 

 been obtained near Aberdeen, was included and figured by the 

 late R. Gray in his ' Birds of the West of Scotland.' A second 

 example has been taken near Brighton ; and Mr. Cordeaux has 

 recorded (Zool. 1893, p. 149) an adult male shot in Holderness, on 

 February 13th, while feeding with other "pensioners." 



