mars the song of the latter bird : it is really much more like a

sweet Skylark’s song, rather more varied and without the long

dropping notes which the Skylark utters as he returns to earth.

The habit of this little Serin of turning his head from side to

side all the time that he is singing appears to have a somewhat

modulating effect upon the notes.


The St. Helena Seed-eater (Serinus flaviveyitris) is

perhaps the handsomest of the imported species ; and, in my

experience, is the longest-lived ; I purchased a pair from Mr.

Abrahams in 1887, the hen of which died, I think, in 1891, but

the cock remained in fairly good health and sang until 1900,

dying on December 16th.


The song of this Serin is very like that of the Grey

Singing-finch, but is much louder and more rarely heard;

indeed I do not think I ever heard my cock bird sing excepting

in the summer months, and then only perhaps two or three

times a day unless he chanced to be trying to charm a hen Green

Singing-finch. I have recorded my failure to cross it with

Canary hens, chiefly owing to its extremely quarrelsome

disposition : indeed, as it is the handsomest, so is it the most

combative of all the Serins which I have kept.


The Green Singing-finch (Seyimis icterus) is almost like

a small edition of the preceding, but with a very inferior though

even louder song ; both sexes sing at times, and the performance,

though scrappy and consisting of short joyous shouts of song

rather than a connected melody, must be extremely pleasing

when a flock of this species can be heard in a state of freedom.


This bird is almost as quarrelsome and occasionally more

malicious in its combats than the St. Helena Seed-eater : it is

moreover undoubtedly a mischievous egg-eater. There is not

the least difficulty in getting the Green Singing-finch to pair

and build in an aviary ; the hen lays her clutch of white eggs

and then they gradually all disappear: this has happened with

my birds on five occasions, and the presence of a pair of these

birds in an aviary with birds smaller than themselves seems at

once to put a stop to all breeding in that aviar) r , all the eggs

disappearing mysteriously.


With regard to the distinction which Mr. Abrahams used

to make between individuals of the Green Singing-finch, it is

worthy of note that the British Museum Catalogue does not

acknowledge them. I believe myself that my friend Mr.

Abrahams distinguished the older birds, in which the face mark¬

ings were blacker, under the name of the Bearded Seed-eater,



