i8 



British Birds. 



The Serin Finch. 



THE SERIN FINCH. 

 [Scriniis st'riniis.) 



feature in our countrv districts. It 

 is a curious fact in distribution 

 that whereas in Western Europe the 

 House - Sparrow is the bird of the 

 cities and viHages, and tlie Tree- 

 Sparrow is the species of the country, 

 as the eastern range of the two 

 birds is reached, it is the Tree- 

 Sparrow which becomes tlie dominant 

 one and replaces the House-Sparrow as 

 the famihar species of the towns and 

 fjardens. The nest is a roui^h structure of straw, hke that of other Sparrows, and 

 is situated in holes of barns or rocks, but it is more frequently placed in pollard 

 willows. The eggs are more thickly marked than those of the House-Sparrow, 

 which they otherwise closely resemble. 



Is a Canar}-, and is so like the wild Canary of Madeira, 

 from which the ordinary yellow cage-bird is derived, that 

 there is practicalh- no difference between the two birds, e.xcept 

 that the Serin is decidedly the smaller of the two. It is an inhabitant of Southern 

 and Central Europe, and is apparently extending its range northward, as 

 frequent notices of its breeding in localities hitherto unrecorded appear in the 

 German periodicals. It extends as far north as Denmark, and occasionally 

 wanders to the British Islands, some eight individuals having been 

 captured in England during the season of spring or autumn migration. 

 The song of the Serin Finch or • Zei/ig,' as it is called in Germany, 

 is quite unmistakable, as I can state from my own observations in 

 the P'rankfort Zoological Gardens, wdiere I was first introduced to the 

 bird, by the well-known naturalist, Ernst Hartert. The habits of the Seiin 

 are those of the Siskin, excepting that the former is a more lively bird, 

 and is much more often seen, as it sings from the top of a tree or 

 mounts into the air. The eggs resemble those of the Linnet, but are 



smaller. 



Many Wild Canaries (Seri)!us canaria) have been caught in England, 

 and I have had several brought to me at the British IMuseum; but 

 whether they are really individuals which have been brought ali\e from 

 the Canary Islands and have escaped, or whether they are ordinary 

 yellow Canaries which have got out of their cages and taken to the 

 woods and flourished, it is impossible to .say. Those brought to me 

 have shewn no signs of captivity, but a few seasons of freedom would 

 probably result in the reversion of the yellow bird of our aviaries to the 

 plumage of the ancestral stock — the Wild Canary. 



