THE SISKIN 91 



period of its stay is retiring in its habits. Siskins are more fre- 

 quently met with in the northern than the southern counties of 

 England, but they are common in neither, and will only nest where 

 pine woods abound. They are generally observed to keep together in 

 small flocks of from twelve to fifteen, and may be heard from a 

 considerable distance, as they rarely intermit uttering their call- 

 note, which, though little more than a soft twittering, is as clear 

 as that of the Bullfinch, to which it has been compared. Their 

 flight is rapid and irregular, like that of the Linnet. They leave 

 their roosting-places early in the morning, and usually alight on 

 the branches of alder-trees, where they remain all day. The seeds 

 of the alder, inclosed within scales something like those of the 

 coniferous trees, form the principal food of these pretty little birds, 

 who are obliged to hang at the extremities of the twigs in order 

 to explore the seed-vessels on all sides. Occasionally, but less 

 frequently, they are seen visiting heads of thistles and burdocks, 

 and not unfrequently they descend to the ground for the sake of 

 picking up scattered seeds. During the whole of their feeding 

 time, they never cease twittering and fluttering about joyously from 

 twig to twig. Now and then, as if by preconcerted signal given 

 by a leader, they all take flight to another tree or, after a short 

 evolution, return to the same from which they started. Should 

 it happen that, while one little band is occupied in despoiling a 

 tree, another is heard in the air, the latter is immediately invited 

 by general acclamation to take part in the banquet, and rarely 

 fails to accept the invitation. Owing to this sociability of character 

 they are easily entrapped, provided that one of their own species 

 be employed as a decoy bird. They soon become reconciled to 

 captivity, and are valued for their readiness to pair with the Canary- 

 bird, the note of w^hich the joint offspring is thought to improve. 

 The nest, which in some respects resembles those of the Green- 

 finch and Chafhnch, is concealed with great care in the fork formed 

 by two branches of a fir, with which it is so skilfully made to assimi- 

 late, that it is almost impossible to discern it from below. In 

 France, Siskins are most numerous from the middle of October to 

 the beginning of December. They are then supposed to travel 

 southwards, and appear again, but in greatly diminished numbers, 

 in spring, at which period they are considered to be travelling 

 towards their summer quarters in Russia and Scandinavia. 



