CHRTSOMITRIS SPINUS 193 



C. carduelis from North Europe in its smaller size, and has been 

 separated subspecifically under the name of Carduelis c. meridionalis 

 (Brehm). The Goldfinch of Madeira has also been distinguished 

 under the name of Carduelis c. jJarva, Tschusi. The latter, however, 

 appears to be identical with North-west African birds, so that if any 

 distinction from typical C. carduelis is really warranted, Brehm's name 

 of meridionalis should no doubt be used for this small form, as well 

 as for birds from the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean sub- 

 region generally. I may here observe that Count Arrigoni has 

 recently described the resident Sardinian Goldfinch as distinct from 

 the ordinary Continental form under the name of Card^ielis c. tschusii 

 (Avicula, 1902, p. 104). 



CHRYSOMITRIS SPINUS (Linnaus). 

 SISKIN. 



Fringilla spinas, Lin7i. Syst. Nat. i, p. 322 (1766). 



Chrysomitris spinus, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 322 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 



Mus. xii, p. 212 ; Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 152 (1867) ; Whitaker, 



Ibis, 1898, p. 126. 



Description. — Male, winter, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



Crown and lores black ; superciliaries and nape yellowish-green ; ear- 

 coverts dusky green ; back and scapulars dark green, striped with dusky- 

 black ; rump yellow ; upper tail-coverts dark green ; central pair of rectrices 

 blackish-green, remaining rectrices yellow, tipped with blackish, the exterior 

 pair with black outer webs ; primary quills blackish, margined with yellow, 

 secondaries and wing-coverts blackish, broadly margined with yellow ; throat 

 and breast greenish-yellow, the former showing an indication of the dark 

 patch of summer plumage ; abdomen and crissum whitish ; flanks and under 

 tail-coverts heavily striped with blackish. 



Iris dark brown ; bill grey, darker at the tip ; feet greyish brown. 



Total length 4-25 inches, wing 2-90, culmen '40, tarsus -50. 



Adult female considerably duller in coloration than the male. 



The Siskin is not at all common in Tunisia, and apparently only 



occurs as a winter migrant in the north of the Eegency, being more 



plentiful in some years than in others. South of the Atlas the species 



probably never strays. In Algeria, as in Tunisia, it only occurs as an 



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