1 68 SISKIN. 



the Caucasus ; while elsewhere it is found on migration down to 

 the Mediterranean. No recent visitors to the Canaries have found 

 it there ; but in severe winters it is said to cross to Morocco and 

 Algeria. Eastward it has been met with in Asia Minor, Northern 

 Persia, and across Siberia to China and Japan, being a favourite 

 cage-bird in the latter. In the Indian region, from Cashmere to 

 Western China, the representative species is Ch. spinoides. 



The Siskin generally produces two broods in the year, and St. 

 John found well-fledged young near Nairn as early as April 26th. 

 Firs of some kind or birches are the trees usually selected, and the 

 nest, while occasionally placed at the top against the main-stem, 

 is generally high up and at the end of a long lateral branch ; but 

 sometimes it is built in gorse and other bushes. Fir twigs, fine roots 

 and green moss are the materials employed to form a tolerably neat 

 structure, which is lined with horsehair and a itv^ feathers. The eggs, 

 usually 5, are slightly smaller than those of the Goldfinch, rather 

 bluer in ground-colour, and speckled with dull lilac and reddish- 

 brown : average measurements -65 by '47 in. Siskins not unfre- 

 quently breed in captivity, but there is a difficulty in rearing the 

 young, as in the earlier stages they appear to require Aphides, such 

 as infest the leaves and green shoots of the alder. Later in the 

 year, beechmast, and seeds of rag-weed and other plants are eaten. 

 The call-note is loud and clear, resembling the word glee — or zeisig, 

 whence the bird's German name — and the song is pretty and 

 varied. 



The adult male has the chin, lores and top of the head black ; 

 cheeks and ear-coverts dusk3'-greenish ; above and behind each 

 eye, to the nape runs a broad streak of yellow, which unites with 

 the upper breast of the same colour ; mantle greenish-olive, streaked 

 with dusky-black; rump yellow; the central pair of tail-feathers 

 dusk3'-black, the others black near the tips, yellow at the bases and 

 on the inner webs ; wing-coverts black tipped with yellow ; quills 

 blackish, with yellow margins and bases forming two irregular bars ; 

 belly white ; flanks yellowish, streaked with black ; bill pale brown ; 

 legs dull brown. Length 4-6 ; wing 2*8 in. In autumn the colours 

 are duller, and there is hardly any black on the chin. The female 

 is streaked with dusky on the crown, and has very little yellow 

 on the rump, wings and tail ; the under parts are yellowish-white, 

 streaked with dusky. The young are still duller and greyer in 

 appearance. 



