SISKIN. 93 
The Siskin breeds in the pine-woods of Northern and Central Europe, 
in Norway ranging as far north as lat. 67°, in Russia as far as Arch- 
angel, and in the Urals up to about lat. 58°. It also breeds in some 
of the mountainous districts of Southern Europe, as, for instance, near 
Florence and in the Caucasus. Its winter range is much more extensive ; 
and at this season it is also found in the Spanish peninsula, the plains 
of Austria, Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, and South Russia. It is also a 
rare winter visitor to North-west Africa, and occasionally strays as far as 
the Canaries and Teneriffe. Hast of the Ural Mountains the Siskin has 
not been found until we reach the shores of the Pacific, where it breeds 
in the Lower Amoor and Japan, passes through North China on migration, 
and winters in South China as far as Foochow. Whether this is a case 
of discontinuous area of distribution is very difficult to say; for possibly 
the bird may have been overlooked in the intervening country, although 
it is scarcely probable that Dybowsky during his long residence near 
Lake Baikal could have missed it. Nor has the Siskin ever been 
met with in India, being there apparently replaced by F. spinoides, a 
species confined to the Himalayas, and easily distinguished from our bird 
by its dark greenish-brown back and much stouter bill. Another allied 
species, the Citril Finch, F. citrinella (erroneously included in the British 
list), inhabits the mountain-ranges of Southern Europe, but is easily 
distinguished by the absence of the black head and the streaks on the 
underparts. In North America several allied species are found; but they 
all differ, either in not having the black head or in not having any streaks 
on the back and underparts. 
Of the numerous Finches which are annually caught in the south of 
England, in the neighbourhood of London and on the Brighton downs, 
the Siskin is by no means the least interesting ; and most bird-catchers 
find it worth their while to have one or two decoy-birds of this species. 
It is very common during migration in Mr. Swaysland’s garden near 
Brighton, which is exceptionally well situated for the observation of birds. 
My son has frequently caught a score or more of these birds in Mr. Sways- 
land’s clap-net before breakfast. He has frequently seen them flying up 
wind in small flocks. Several of the birds were nearly always attracted by 
the “ brace-bird” and the “ call-bird ;” some flew up at once into the net, 
whilst others alighted first in the elder-bushes and dry sticks placed there for 
the purpose. They were very tame and continually answered to the call-bird, 
and were generally caught without difficulty. At other times I have seen 
them in the fir trees to the south of his garden in early spring, their short 
twittering song attracting attention at once. In many of their actions 
they much resemble a Tit or a Willow-Wren, seldom being still for a 
moment, and putting themselves into all kinds of positions. 
At their breeding-haunts, which are principally pine-woods, their song 
