lyo SERIN. 



The nest of the Serin, placed in the fork of some tree or about 

 breast-high in a bush, is built of fine roots, bents, lichen and grey 

 moss, with a lining of softer materials. The eggs, 4-5, are pale 

 greenish-white, with light reddish-brown spots and a few darker 

 blotches : average measurements '61 by '47 in. The food consists 

 of various kinds of seeds. The song resembles the word zi-zi often 

 repeated, and a flock of birds settled in a tree produces a peculiar 

 buzzing or almost hissing sound. 



Adult male in breeding-plumage : forehead, a line over each eye, 

 rump, throat and breast, bright yellow ; cheeks and upper parts olive, 

 with dark brown streaks ; great wing-coverts and secondaries edged 

 with dull white ; quills and tail brown, margined with pale yellow ; 

 belly white ; flanks boldly streaked with brown ; bill horn-brown ; 

 legs pale brown. Length 4"5 ; wing 2 '6 in. Female much less 

 yellow and more striated. In winter both sexes are duller in colour ; 

 while the young in their first autumn exhibit hardly any yellow 

 tint. 



Examples of the subspecies Sermus canan'a, peculiar to the 

 Canaries, Madeira and the Azores, have been obtained in England ; 

 and, although cages-full are known to be imported, there are 

 persons who wish to believe that the individuals captured are 

 not escaped birds, but stragglers from a warm to an inhospitable 

 climate. While upon the subject, it may be mentioned that the 

 above-named Mr. W. Hazel has stated (Nat. 1853, p. 20) that the 

 African SeriiiKS icierus ( Crithagra chrysopyga of Swainson), was 

 taken near Portsmouth. Mr. Langdon recorded (Zool. 1886, p. 490) 

 that, among the many rarities obtained by the late Mr. Swaysland 

 of Brighton, there was a Citril Finch taken alive on October 14th; 

 but on examination the bird proved to be a freely-imported South 

 African species, Scrinus canicollis, another specimen of which has 

 since been captured. Montagu mentions an example of the American 

 Cya7iospiza ciris, taken near Portland in 1802, which he, with his 

 accustomed good sense, naturally presumed to have escaped from 

 confinement. Another American species, the ' White-throated 

 Sparrow,' Zotiotrichia alhicollis. (which is really a Bunting) having 

 been obtained near iVberdeen, was included and figured by the late 

 R. Gray in his ' Birds of the West of Scotland,' and a second 

 example has been taken near Brighton. 



