128 A BOOK OF BIRDS 



The Serin (Plate XXVIII. fig. 9), though reckoned among our 

 British birds, is but a casual visitor to our shores, only eight examples 

 having been recorded. It is a very beautiful bird, and on this account, 

 probably, has been introduced into the United States. The home of 

 the Serin may be considered as the southern part of Europe and Asia 

 Minor. 



But this Finch should have for us a quite peculiar interest, 

 inasmuch as the Serin, which is found in the Canaries, Madeira, 

 and the Azores, is the ancestor of that most popular of cage-birds, 

 the Canary (Plate XXVIII. fig. 11). According to some authorities 

 this bird, which is known as the Wild Canary, is only a sub- 

 species of the Serin which occasionally occurs in Great Britain ; 

 while, according to others, it is a quite distinct species, though, of 

 course very closely related. 



Of the House-sparrow (Plate XXVII. fig. 10) little, surely, need 

 be said here, for wherever a house-roof is to be found, there will the 

 Sparrow be found also. It would be well indeed if he were not so 

 common, since, possessing an inordinate greed for corn, he robs the 

 farmer unmercifully ; while, being of a most pugnacious disposition, 

 he displaces more handsome and more useful species. In England 

 he is driving away the Swallows and Martins and many other useful 

 birds, and in the United States, where he was introduced under 

 the mistaken impression that he would remove a plague of caterpillars, 

 he has proved no less of a nuisance. 



The Tree-sparrow (Plate XXVII. fig. 9) is a relatively rare 

 bird compared with the House-sparrow, and is locally distributed, 

 being more abundant in Cambridgeshire and the eastern counties 

 of England than elsewhere in these islands. In Scotland it is more 

 abundant along the eastern side ; in Ireland it was unknown until 

 1852, but near Dublin it seems to be increasing. 



Closely resembling the House-sparrow, it may be distinguished 

 therefrom by having the crown of the head chestnut instead of grey, 

 and two white bars across the closed wing. Further, while in the 

 House-sparrow the sexes are quite dissimilar, in the Tree-sparrow 

 they are hardly to be distinguished. 



The Chaffinch (Plate XXVIII. fig. 3) is one of the commonest 

 of our Finches, especially in the north of England. Few birds are 



