178 Capt. Beavan on various Indian Birds. 



put into a cage), and set to woi*k in earnest. My greatest diffi- 

 culty was in finding a spot sufficiently level ; but at last I suc- 

 ceeded, by paying for the removal of a standing crop of millet 

 in a field ; and, placing my call-bird in a wire rat-trap, I at last 

 enticed an unwary couple between the nets. Then, with brace- 

 and call-birds complete, I caught between thirty and forty in a 

 few days, some of which were given to numerous friends ; and I 

 started for England with ten, out of which six arrived in safety, 

 and four of them are at the present moment in the Zoological 

 Gardens. This is, I believe, the first time this species has been 

 introduced into England. 



The bill is strong and triangular, measuring from the front 

 •375, and from the gape •4375, and is of a pinkish flesh-colour ; 

 the legs are darker flesh-colour, with lighter soles and brownish 

 claws. The spread of the foot is •125. About Simla the species 

 is not uncommon ; the males are generally seen seated on the tip 

 of a Deodar {Cedrus deodara), singing at each other. 



At Fagoo, August 4th, 1866, I found Siskins extremely 

 abundant — all in pairs, and shot a female in the act of building 

 her nest in a thick epiphytic clump of vegetation, growing at the 

 extremity of the bough of an Ilex. These " hollies " are trees 

 with a trunk a foot or more in diameter, and grow to the height 

 of 30 or 40 feet, like short stunted oaks. The usual call of the 

 Siskin in flight reminds me of the Common Linnet; but the 

 song and call of the male (both when at rest, and in its peculiar 

 soaring flight during the breeding-season) remind me much of 

 the Greenfinch ; it has a note also very similar to the " bzee- 

 ee-ee^^ of that bird. The song of the male is very sweet, but 

 frequently ends rather harshly, with the "bzee^^ note repeated 

 several times in succession. 



The young birds of the year did not appear until late at 

 Simla, my first being caught at Mahasoo on September 29th. 

 I had, however, as early as the beginning of that month seen a 

 specimen in Dr. Stoliczka's collection, made in the interior. The 



