4 LE CIM. 



riliirc qui restreignent ainsi l'aire de dispersion du 

 Cini. Quoique robuste, il a besoin d'un climat doux 

 et uniforme ; il craint les brusques changements de 

 temps, les perturbations atmosphériques et redoute 

 également les ardeurs du soleil et les brises trop 

 fraîches. Enfin, il se nourrit exclusivement d'une mul- 

 titude de petites graines qui n'abondent que dans les 

 vignobles et les vergers , lesquels ne dépassent point 

 (au nord, du moins) les pays que je viens d'énu- 

 mérer. 



On trouve le Cini en Hollande (1), où toutefois il ne 

 paraît qu'accidentellement, ainsi qu'en Angleterre {"i) 



(1) Temaiinck {L-C), Manuel cV ornithologie, \HiO, ia-S". — Voy. 

 t.I, p. 357. 



(â) Ce n'est qu'avec une extrême réserve qu'on doit adaieltre le 

 Gin dans la faune de l'Angleterre. M. Cecil Sniilh, le seul des orni- 

 thologistes anglais qui en ait parlé, exprime ainsi ses doutes : « I hâve 

 considérable doubt ahout the propriety of including Ihis bird in the 

 Somersetshire list : 1 do so, hoNvevcr, on the authority of one spé- 

 cimen which was killed iu Tauntou, in January or February, 18(iG : 

 it was shown to me by M. lladdon, of thaï town, on the ol st. of 

 March, after it had been slulled and put into a case. 1 then had sonie 

 doubt as lo the identity of the bird : it struck me at the time as so 

 like a cross between the Siskiu and the Canary as scarcely to be dis- 

 tinguished from it and 1 thought it might be sonie escaped pet, as it 

 was shot while feeding with some Sparrows in a back gardeu iu the 

 town. 1 bave, however, seen it since; in the very fine collection of 

 M. liyne at Bishop's HuU and compared it with the description of the 

 Serin Finch given by M. Newman, in bis édition of Montagus Uic- 

 tionary, with which it agrées so nearly that I do nol think it would 

 be right to omit ail notice of the capture, ihough it is slill possible it 

 may be an escaped prisoner. The Serin linch is an inhabitant of the 

 South of Europe : it is very common in the South of France, and a 

 few instances of its capture in Britain are recorded in the « Zoologist » 

 although it had escaped the notice of Yarrell and other writers on 

 British ornithology. » Extrait de The Birds of Somersetshire by Ci-cil 

 Sinilli. London, IKI)!), in-li?; voy. pp. JNU-INI. 



