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myself must be taken as my excuse for much of what will perhaps

appear to be too elementary in the following lines.


The Serin under consideration, like many another bird,

has by no means always been constant in its name, either

scientific or trivial. I have identified it in the Natural History

Museum under the title of Yellow-browed Seed-Eater, or Crithagra,

Jlaviventris, of which the English name seems to be on every

hand much more scientific than the one generally adopted;

dealers have sold it to me as a Cape Canary ; and I have


purchased it from a gentleman who brought it from Vryburg


and who knew it only by its local name of Scasie or Scasies.

Dr. Butler, in his valuable paper on South African Cage-birds,

speaks of it as the Kleine Seisje ;—may it be that Scasie is the

phonetic rendering of the latter ?


The size of the bird is a trifle in excess of that of our


Einnet, to which the hen has some resemblance at a little


distance. In build it is stout and in its lines not too graceful.

The beak is short and thick, and when open the edges are seen

to curve slightly downwards, as also does the culmen or upper

ridge of the upper mandible, which latter is dark while the

lower one is horn-coloured.


The crown of the head, nape, and back are green, with

dark pencillings. A pronounced yellow stripe crosses the fore¬

head and is continued over the eyes. The chin, breast, and

under parts are yellow with a green tinge in it, especially an

ill-defined patch in the middle of the breast which shows up as

almost distinctly green. From the base of the lower mandible

there runs obliquely downwards and backwards a dark green

moustache mark. The wing coverts are green—the secondaries

black with pale greenish grey outer edge. The primaries are the

same except that the edging is narrower. The tail feathers are

the same colour as the primaries, with the upper coverts green

and the lower ones yellow.


The female is slightly smaller and much more sombre in

colour. Her upper parts are dark grey with a decided green

tinge in it and pencilled in a darker shade. The breast and

underparts are greyish—somewhat indistinctly pencilled and

showing no indication of yellow whatever. A darker shade

shows up an attempt at moustache marking, and an eye mark can

be detected in some lights.


There would seem to be a considerable amount of difference

between individual specimens of this bird. For instance, the

one from Vryburg is larger and has the eyebrow and forehead



