SISKINS. 



95 



coverts blackish tipped with olive, whitish ut ends ; 

 flights and tail-feathers blackish with pale olive 

 fringes; ends of secondaries whitish; lores yellowish 

 as also the front of cheeks; under purts brighter 

 olivaceous yellow, paler on abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts; thighs, under wing-coverts and axillaries ashy, 

 the last-mentioned frin^a'd with yellow ; flights below 

 dusky, ashy along inner web. Habitat, Costa Rica to 

 Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. 



Mr. T. K. Suhuun sent home e^gs of this species 

 (see Proc. Zix>l. Soc, 1879, p. 508). They are described 

 as " pale greenish white, thickly but fiiintly freckled 

 with lilac iuul brownish spi>t.s ; axis 7, diam. .5"; and 

 this would seem to !«■ all tliat has been recorded respect- 

 ing the wild life of the present species. 



Calrtain Pam presented a si)ecimen of this Siskin to 

 the London Zoological Gardens in November, 1906. 



Ybllow-rtimped Siskin* {C'hr)/somitris uropygialis). 



Entire head and upixr surface black, the feathers of 

 the upper p;uts witli yell >w margins ; flights with a 

 terminal white fringe, best marked on the inner 

 secondaries, which have broad yellow borders towanis 

 the ends; remainder of flights yellow at t!ie base; 

 shorter upper tail-coverts yellow, longer ones black witli 

 yellow fringe; basal two-thirds of all excepting the 

 central tail-feathers yellow ; under surface from tbroat 

 backwards yellow, greener at sides, the flanks varied 

 with blackish ; thighs dusky at base ; flights below 

 blackish, yellow towards base of inner webs ; beak Itaden, 

 feet brown. Female apparently undestribed. Habitat, 

 Chili to South Peru. Russ states that the food of this 

 Siskin eonsiits of oily .^-oeils of plant* on the Cordilleras. 

 Its behaviour is shy and c:iuti<ms, therefore it mu.>it be 

 vliflicult to capture. According to Ijandbeck it does 

 not long survive its craving for liberty, which, says 

 Russ, is the more to be deplored, in that it would be 

 treasured as an admirable songster; he says also that 

 in spite of its wide range it has hitherto only been 

 received singly and extremely rarely in the bird-trade. 

 Black Siskim [Chrysomilris alrala). 



AlKive dead black ; greater wing-coverts tipped with 

 yellow; flights, excepting inner secondaries, yellow at 

 the base ; tiiil-feathers, excepting the central ones, 

 yellow at the base ; abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 yellow: thighs pale yellow: under wing-coverts, 

 axillaries and base of flights below yellow. Female or 

 young browner than male; yellow paler; the median 

 wing-coverts tipped, like the greater coverts, with 

 yellow : the flights with yellowish white margins 

 towards the end of outer web ; under surface yellow 

 from the throat backwards ; the breasts mottled with 

 broHTi. "Mendoza to Bolivia and Peru" (Sharpe). 



Taczanowski (" Orn. Perou," Vol. III., p. 53) says; — 

 "The nest is composed of an irregular bed of moss 

 mixed with .a little wool, some stems of dry grass, 

 rf>otlets, and little twigs, upon which the true nest is 

 construrted of wool and different kinds of hair, rarely 

 also including a few feather!;. All this structure is 

 thick and very compact : interior shallow, but carefully 

 moulded. Height, 4.5; width, .13; diameter of interior, 

 4.5; de.pth, 2.5 centimetres. All found by M. Jelski 

 under the straw-covered roofs." 



" The eggs are greenish white, variously spotted, even 

 among specimens of the same clutch. Eggs found on 

 the 30th April differ from one another in this respect : 

 one has at the large end a z<me formed of little reddish 

 .5pot.s, very pale and indistinct and .wme other darker 

 ones scattered over the rest of the surface ; another has 

 a sinular zone nearer to the large end and fewer but 

 larger dark spots on the zotk and none on the rest of 



the surface ; on the third the zone is reduced to some 

 small si)ots, some dark dots and some nearly black 

 tangled veining, one of which extends over nearly half 

 the length of the egg; an egg of the second clutch, 

 on the other hand, has a broad zone near the small end 

 formed of dark spots and dots, and little speckling on 

 the renuiinder of the surface, the large end is almost 

 unspotted. Dimensions :— 18.6 x 19.6 to 13 x 13-6 

 millimetres." 



Mr. Ambrose A. Lane, writing on the birds of Chili 

 (The lb-is, 1897, pp. 22-23) says ;— " I first saw these 

 birds at Huasco, in Tarapaca," in >Januaiy, 1890, and 

 subsequently at Sacaya. 



" They did not appear to be stationary for any length 

 of time, but frequented stretches of tiie low bush in 

 large scattered flocks, and 1 saw none after February, 

 and concluded they had migrated. 



" The only note I observed them utter was an insignifi- 

 cant twitter when flitting from bush to bush. I did not 

 see any at altitudes above 10,500 feet." 



According to Russ. this bird is caught and caged by 

 the Indians on account of its admirable song, and he 

 expres.ses the hope th<at it may eventually be freely 

 imported into Eurojje. Hitherto he says he knows of 

 only one male having been receivetl by Mr. E. Linz, of 

 Hamburg. 



Bl.ack-chinnf.u Si.SKiN [Cfiri/mmilris harhata). 



Abjve yellowish-green, becoming more yellow on lower 

 back and rump ; mantle and upper back with blackish 

 centres to the feathers ; median and greater coverte 

 yellow, the latter black at base ; flights black, more or 

 less edged with yellow, the bases veliow, confined to the 

 outer web in the primaries, and fonning a broad belt; 

 upper tail-coverts greenish yellow edged with ashy 

 grey ; tail blackish, yellow at base, the inner webs of th© 

 feathers edged with whitish, the outer webs with ashy 

 e.xcepting at base; crown black, the feathers with slight 

 olive margins; sides of head and neck greenish yellow; 

 lores whitish; cheeks and under surface bright yellow; 

 sides greenish ; centre of throat black ; abdomen white ; 

 flanks ashy ; thighs yellowish ash-coloured ; longer under 

 tail-coverts ashy with black centres, the remainder 

 yellow; -under wing-coverts and axdlaries yellow with 

 dusky bases ; flights dusky, yellow towards base of inner 

 webs. Female altogether "duller, with less defined mark- 

 ings on wing, no black on crown, a pale yellow forehead 

 joining a long yellow eyebrow stripe running into the 

 same colour at side of neck; ear-ooverts dull olive; 

 cheeks and under surface pale yellow with an ashv 

 tinge ; abdomen whit-e : sides oliive-yellow ; lower flank's 

 brownish. Habitat, "Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and 

 Chili" (Shaipe). 



•Mr. Lane (The lUs, 1897, pp. 21-22) says :—" This 

 species is one of the most popular and familiar small 

 birds throughout Chili. It is very numerous in the 

 southern provinces, and from its beauty, docility, and 

 singing capacities is kept by many people as a cage-bird. 

 It is known everywhere as the ' Jilquero,' pronounced 

 ' Silquero ' in the southern provinces. 



" These birds cIo>-ely resemble the common Siskin in 

 general appearance and colouring, as also dn habits. I 

 did not observe them in the central provinces, but was 

 told they occur as winter visitants. I found them very 

 numerous in Arauco. and also about Valdivia ; but south 

 of the latter district I did not observe so many, though 

 a certain number occurred as far south as I went, and In 

 Chiloe. They bred at Rio Bueno about November, 

 somewhat earlier than other small species there. 



" I was not fortunate in getting any eggs of this bird, 

 but found a new nest, which was placed in a thick 



