52 



gardens in April and May.] Eggs generally 4 — 5 in number; slightly 

 smaller and lighter than the average of mid European eggs, but other 

 wise resembling them. 26 African eggs measured by Erlanger, Konig and 

 Hartert, and 29 Andalucian eggs by the writer, average 16.22 X 12.68 mm., 

 Max. 18X13 and 16x14 mm., Min. 15X12 mm. 7 Algerian eggs 

 weigh 63 nig. (Konig), and 5 Spanish eggs average 73 mg. 



[In Madeira and the Canaries a small dark race is found, C. carduelis 

 parva Tsch., and east of the Urals a larger form, C. c. major Tacz.] 



30. Siskin, Carduelis spiims (L.). 

 Plate 11, fig. 21—25. 



Eggs: Thienemann, Fort^pfl., Tab. XXXV, fig. 14, a — c. Hewitson, 

 II. Ed. I, pi. XLIV, fig. 2; IE. Ed. I, pi. L, fig. 2. Baedeker, Tab. 20, 

 fig. 2. Taczanowski, Tab. LXXII, fig. 2. Seebohm, Br. Birds, pi. 12; id. 

 Col. Fig., pi. 56. Frohawk, Br. Birds, pi. IV, fig. 131. 



Nest: 0. Lee, II, p. 146; Kearton, Rarer Br. Birds, p. 105. (See 

 also Booth, Rough Notes, part XII.) 



British Local Names: Barley Bird. Aberdevine. Welsh : Dreiniawg. 



Foreign Names: Bohemia: Cicek. Denmark: Orbnsidsken. Finland: 

 Kroonsiska. France: Tarin. Germany: Erlenzeisig, Zeisig. Helgoland: 

 Ziesk. Holland: Sijsje. Hungary: Cziz. Italy: Lucarino, Lugaro. Norway: 

 Sisik. Poland: Luszczak Czyz. Portugal: Lugre. Russia: Oiz, Cizik. 

 Spain: Lugano. Sweden: Orbnsiska, Siska. 



Carduelis spinus (L.). Newton, ed. Yarrell, II, p. 126. Chrysomitris 

 spinus (L.). Dresser, Birds of Europe, III, p. 541; Saunders, Man., p. 175; 

 Dresser, Man. Pal. Birds, p. 276. Acanthis spinus (L.). Hartert, Vog. Pal. 

 Fauna, p. 71. 



Breeding Range: Europe, locally, where coniferous woods exist, 

 except in N. Scandinavia and Russia, the Iberian peninsula, the greater 

 part of Italy and the southern part of the Balkan peninsula. [In Asia 

 from Asia Minor to Japan.] 

 British Although the Siskin is reported to have bred in some fourteen counties 



Isles. Qf England, most of the accounts of its nesting are quite at variance with 

 what we know of its breeding habits in the north, and it is probable that 

 in several cases the birds have been wrongly identified. It was however 

 found nesting in Durham in 1848 and also in 1874, and a few pairs bred 

 in the woods of Longtown, Cumberland between 1879 and 1885. In Scot- 

 land it. has been recorded as breeding in the Solway district, and north 

 of Perthshire its distribution is regulated by the presence or absence of 

 coniferous woods, but it is locally common as far north as Dunrobin (E. 

 Sutherland), though scarce on the western side of the country except per- 



