114 ]'RINGILLI]),E. 



experience goes, it is very shy and difficult of approach 

 outside the town. During the fortnight I spent at Staufen 

 in Breisgau (Baden), in June last [1875], I never got within 

 range of one outside the town, though on several occasions 

 I saw and heard it. In the town itself I several times saw 

 specimens ; hut as they doubtless had nests in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and as, besides, it would not well do to shoot in 

 the town, I did not obtain a specimen. It may easily be 

 recognized by its call-note and flight. The former some- 

 what resembles that of the Canary, but may easily be dis- 

 tinguished by any one who has heard it. Its song is poor, 

 and lacks both depth and melody, being merely a con- 

 tinuous twittering v;ar])le, generally uttered, it would seem, 

 as the bird is seated on the topmost spray of some tree, 

 usually a fruit-tree. Its flight is exceedingly swift, and may 

 not inaptly be compared to that of a Sand-Martin, which it 

 far more nearly resembles than that of any other Finch. It 

 sometimes sings whilst on the wing ; that is, it will fly up from 

 the spray on which it has been seated like a Tree-Pipit, and 

 will continue its song during the short time it is in the air. 



" It feeds chiefly on seeds of various kinds ; at least all 

 those I have at different times shot, and the contents of 

 whose stomachs I examined, had been feeding on these 

 alone — grass-seeds and those of the various wild plants and 

 Aveeds, chiefly such as are oily ; and it appears always to shell 

 the seeds and discard the husks before swallowing them. It 

 seeks after food in fields, gardens, and especially in the vine- 

 yards, in which last it is usually to be found. 



" The nest is a very neat, compact little structure, very 

 carefully made and neatly shaped. It is built of fine roots 

 and grass-bents, and neatly lined with feathers and horse- 

 hair. The outer portion of the nest appears to be inter- 

 woven with spiders' webs ; and a few bits of lichen and grey 

 moss are affixed here and there. A nest in the possession 

 of Mr. Carl Sachse, taken near Frankfort, is built in the 

 folk between three upright small branches of a lilac tree, 

 and is constructed entirely of fine grass-stems and rootlets, 

 intermixed with cotton and woollen threads. These latter 



