1 5 2 Bird-keeping. 



black and forked ; the wings are brownish-black, 

 striped with orange bands ; the throat and breast pale 

 orange, shading to white in the lower part of the body. 



The Brambling appears to be capable of being tamed, 

 but some individuals of the species are quarrelsome 

 and spiteful, and are not pleasant inmates of an aviary 

 on that account. They require the same food and 

 treatment as the Chaffinch. 



The SISKIN or ABERDEVINE (Fringilla spinns\ some- 

 times called the Black-headed Finch, Gold-wing, and 

 Barley-bird, is a winter visitor to England, and builds 

 in the forests of pine and fir-trees in the north of 

 Europe, and occasionally in the Highlands of Scotland. 

 It has a pretty mixture of black, green, and yellow in 

 its plumage, and is shorter and more thickset than 

 the Goldfinch, and a very active, lively little bird, very 

 amusing in a cage, because it is such a mountebank, 

 always climbing about, moving along the top of the 

 cage, swinging by one leg with its head downwards, 

 and placing itself in all kinds of extraordinary postures. 

 It is very tame and sociable, and can be taught all the 

 accomplishments learnt by Goldfinches; it is quite 

 happy in captivity, and a useful bird in an aviary, 

 because its continual twittering excites the other birds 

 to sing. Its natural song is not powerful, but sweet ; 

 the sweetness, however, is often interrupted by harsh, 

 jarring notes ; and although it will learn the songs of 

 other birds, it can never be taught to whistle a tune 



