SISKIN. 499 



and eating part of the kernels, as well as any seeds they 

 could find among them. In 1828 they again appeared; but 

 in 1829 not one was seen. In the winter of 1830 they were 

 equally wanting." 



Mr. Drew of Paisley says, " Early in June 1833, at which 

 time I resided at Inverary, I went out one morning to fish, 

 and, according to my usual practice, I carried a light gun 

 with me. I was rather surprised, at that season, to see a 

 pair of Siskins among some furze bushes, on the shore of 

 Lochfine, and the birds being close together, I killed both. 

 On dissecting the female, an egg was found ready for ex- 

 clusion, and I never had any doubt but that the birds were 

 breeding in the neighbourhood, though I did not look for, or 

 see, the nest. It is very likely that it Avas in some of the 

 spruces, which were the predominant trees in the place. 

 I subsequently secured a pair of Siskins in the same lo- 

 cality." 



A correspondent residing in the Vale of Alford, Aber- 

 deenshire, thus notices in Mr. Loudon's Magazine of Natural 

 History, vol. vi, the appearance of the Siskin in the breeding- 

 season. " A gentleman in the neighbourhood observed some 

 about the middle of May ; the first that I noticed was on 

 the 27th : it was picking seeds of grass on the edge of the 

 road, and was not at all shy ; I saw others afterwards, at 

 different times and places, till the end of June." 



William Gardiner, Esq. Jun. of Dundee, says of the 

 Siskin, " occasionally a pair or two linger with us during 

 the breeding season, and produce their young. Near the end 

 of May 1834, a nest full of young ones was found in Cam- 

 perdown Woods ; the nest was situated close to the trunk, 

 at the insertion of a branch of a spruce fir, about six feet 

 from the ground. It was composed of materials similar to 

 those used by the Chaffinch, and contained three birds co- 

 vered with a black down. The old ones were also taken." 



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