SERIN. 



PASSEBES. 



Ill 



FRINGILLID^. 



Sekinus hortulanus, K. L. Koch*. 

 THE SERIN. 



Serinus, K. L. Kochf.— Bill hard, strong, short, somewhat conical, but very 

 broad at the base and with the distal half suddenly diminishing to the tip ; 

 mandibles nearly equal in size, but the upper a little longer than the lower ; 

 edges plain. Nostrils basal, supernal, round and hidden by projecting and 

 recurved frontal plumes. Gape straight. Wings with the first primary so small 

 as to seem wanting ; the second, third and fourth nearly equal, but the third 

 a trifle the longest— none of them however much surpassing the fifth, which on 

 the contrary is considerably longer than the sixth. Tail moderate, rather deeply 

 forked. Tarsus slender, and shorter than the middle toe, scutellate in front, 

 covered at the side by a single plate. Claws small and rather weak. 



The Serin, a Finch closely allied to the Canary-bird and long 

 known to inhabit many parts of Europe, has of late years been 

 observed to be extending its range on the continent, and, as 

 in such a case might well be expected, has appeared in England. 

 The first recorded example is that by Mr. W. Hazel | (Nat. 



* Saugthiere und Vogel Baierns, p. 229 (1816). If however this species be 

 rightly identified with the Frivgilla jlaveola of Linnieus (Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. 

 p. 321) that epithet of course has priority over Koch's. 



f Op. cit. p. 228. 



\ This gentleman seems to have been very fortunate in announcing the appear- 

 ance in England of exotic Finches. In the same note in which he, almos 



