86 BRITISH BIRDS. 
The Serin is a miniature Canary, and though much more streaked on 
the flanks scarcely differs from that species except in size and proportion. 
The wing of the Canary is about 2°9 inches in length, whilst that of the 
Serin is about 2°8, and it is probable that large examples of the latter 
have a wing as long as small examples of the former. The difference 
in the length of the respective tails of the two birds is, however, much 
more important: that of the Siskin is under 2 inches, whilst that of the 
Canary is over 2} inches. 
The Serin bears some superficial resemblance to the Siskin; but the 
black crown of the male of the latter and the yellow bases of the tail- 
feathers in both sexes are sufficient to distinguish them. The shape of the bill 
is also quite different. In the Serin the profile of the bill shows an arched 
instead of a nearly straight upper mandible, and seen from above it 
represents a cone with convex instead of concave sides. Some ornitho- 
logists, whose apparent object has been to introduce as much confusion 
as possible into our nomenclature, have placed these convex-billed birds 
in a separate genus, which they call Serinus. Besides the Canary and 
the Serin, it contains Tristram’s Serin (Fringilla canonicus) and the 
Red-fronted Finch (Ff. pusilla). The former is a local race of the Canary 
which is resident in Palestine, and differs from it in being somewhat 
yellower and less striated both above and below; the latter is a resident 
in Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia, Turkestan, and Cashmere, and is 
somewhat distantly related to the Serin, from which it may at once be 
distinguished by its black throat and the orange-red instead of yellow pre- 
vailing tints of the plumage. 
In the adult male Serin in breeding-plumage the forehead, a line over 
each eye, the rump, the throat, breast, and belly are bright yellow; the 
feathers of the rest of the upper parts and the flanks are dark brown, mar- 
gined with yellow ; the greater and median wing-coverts are dark brown 
tipped with yellow, and the wings and tail-feathers are brown margined 
with yellow ; the under tail-coverts are nearly white. Bill dark horn, paler 
at the base of the lower mandible; legs, feet, and claws pale brown ; irides 
dark brown. The female is slightly duller in colour than the male, and 
after the autumn moult the yellow feathers, especially of the head, have 
buff margins. 
A specimen of the Yellow-rumped Seed-eater (Crithagra chrysopyga) was 
recorded as a British bird im the ‘ Naturalist’ for 1853 (p. 20) by Mr. 
W. Hazel; it is said to have been taken near Portsmouth. There can 
scarcely be a doubt that the bird had escaped from confinement, having been 
brought to that port by some vessel from the West-African coast, where it 
is a native. 
