THE



47



Bvtcultural flfcagastne,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICU LTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. I. — No. 2 .—dll rights reserved. DEC., 1902.


THE HOODED SISKIN,


Chrysomitris cucullata.


By the Rev. Hubert D. Astley, M.A., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


Even if somewhat broken down in health, the enthusiastic

cage-bird lover, unless confined to his bed, is always on the look

out for something new, especially if he or she find themselves in

a new country.


And so it happened that my search for new health and

new birds seemed to go hand in hand on my arrival at Santa

Cruz, the port of the far-famed Island of Teneriffe, in the last

days of 1901.


It was more amongst birds dropped by the coaling vessels,

the merchant ships, etc., that I hoped to find something new,

than among the wild birds indigenous to the Island.


Santa Cruz, pronounced, in correct Spanish, “ Santa

Crooth,” is a halting spot for multitudinous ships, plying from

England, Spain, Italy, etc: to Africa and America, and vice

versa ; so that we may find on board these vessels birds from

Mogador and the West Coast of Africa, birds from South Africa,

and more especially from South America.


Going to the Canary Islands, I certainly did expect to see

Canaries. Nor was I deceived in my expectation, though I did

believe the Canary Islands could exist without the birds ; unlike

a certain lady who gravely supposed that the latter had given

their name to the former, which would be equivalent to thinking

that Queen Victoria had been named after Victoria Park. But

Canaries, real genuine wild ones, there certainly are.



