94 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



tions of from 4,000 to 7,000 feet, I seem to be the only 

 person who has taken the nest in recent times. 



" The following is a note that I recorded at a time 

 when I had recently taken several nests: 



" Lays in July and August, at least in the neighbour- 

 hood of Simla, where alone I have found its nest. The 

 latter is placed in very various situations, and always 

 so well concealed that, except by watching the birds 

 early in the morning, when both parents are generally 

 feeding in the neighbourhood of the nest, it is almost 

 impossible to discover it. I have found the nest 

 (August 18th), with three young ones, some 30 feet 

 from the ground, nearly at the top of an evergreen oak, 

 and I have found it in a deodar bush not 3 feet from 

 the ground, on the lowest bough, about 6 inches from 

 the main stem. Once I found it against the trunk of 

 an aged deodar, nearly buried in a huge clump of moss, 

 much of which the birds had attached to the sides of 

 the nest. Usually the nests are seated Hat on some 

 bough or wide-spreading fork, and, as far as my ex- 

 perience goes, this bird prefers the deodar to any other 

 tree. The nest is a most beautiful .structure, cup-shaped, 

 woven of the finest grass roots, -with a good deal of 

 hair interwoven in the interior and with much moss 

 blended with the exterior. It is a very solid and com- 

 pact little structure. The cavity, which is generally 

 iiuly circular, varies from 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter 

 and from 1.1 to 1.4 in depth. Exteriorly the diameter 

 of the real nest does not exceed 4.5, and often falls 

 short of this, but the nest is at times so blended with 

 moss in situ that it is difficult to say where the nest 

 ends, and you may have to tear away a patch 9 inches 

 square to get it. The eggs are usually three in number, 

 and when fresh are a delicate, slightly greenish white, 

 with an irregular ring of minute blackish-brown spots 

 round the larger end, and occasionally a very few 

 similar specks on the body of the egg. The .shell is 

 exquisitely fine and delicate, and the yolk shows through 

 quite plainly. It is this that gives a certain greenish 

 tinge to the unblown egg, for when blown the shell 

 is a very delicate pale bluish white. In shape they are 

 moderately broad ovals, considerably pointed at one 

 end.' 1 



The Indian Siskin has occasionally been imported 

 Tooth by Jamrach and Hagenbeck, and was exhibited at 

 the London Zoological Gardens as early as 1869. 



ARKANSAS SISKIN (Clirysomitris psaltria). 



Above, including sides of head and neck olive-green ; 

 the feathers of lower back and rump white at base ; 

 lesser wing-coverts black ; remaining wing feathers 

 blackish, edged with olive-green ; greater coverts tipped 

 with white ; inner primaries white at base and with 

 whitish margins ; secondaries increasingly white-bor- 

 dered to the innermost ones ; upper tail-coverts black, 

 edged with olive ; tail feathers black, edged with 

 whitish ; the three outermost with a large white patch 

 on inner web ; crown black ; lores, feathers below eye, 

 cheeks, and under-surface of body bright yellow, be- 

 coming paler on under tail-coverts ; sides and flanks 

 greenish, the latter with dusky streaks ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries white, dusky at base, the latter 

 edged yellow ; thighs whitish ; wings and tail below 

 blackish ; quills white at base and on inner web ; beak 

 flesh coloured, greenish below, tipped dusky ; feet pale 

 fleshy or reddish-brown ; irides brown. Female above 

 and on sides olive-green ; wings and tail brown marked 

 with white, as in the male; underparts duller. Habitat, 

 " Western United States, from the plains to the Pacific, 

 and from Colorado and Utah southward to Sonora" 

 (A.O.U. Check List). 



According to J. G. Cooper ("Ornithology of Cali- 



fornia," Vol. I., p. 169), the habits of this species nearly 

 resemble those of C. tristis, but apparently it feeds 

 more on the ground or among weeds than on trees, is 

 perhaps more gregarious, keeping in flocks up to June 

 1st. The song is similar, but weaker. 



Dr. Sharpe has called this the "Rocky Mountain 

 Siskin," but "Arkansas Finch" is the name by which 

 it is generally known in America. 



According to what Russ says, this species would 

 appear only to have been once imported by a dealer 

 named Schobel, who received three specimens, all of 

 which died soon after they came into his possession. 



COLOMBIAN SISKIN (Chrysomitris colombiana). 



Above with the head and body bluish black ; nape 

 and mantle with olive-yellowish bases to the feathers ; 

 rump with base of feathers .white ; quills with white 

 terminal fringes ; inner secondaries with a white spot 

 at extremity of inner web ; other secondaries with 

 much smaller terminal spots ; inner primaries white at 

 base, forming a broad speculum ; the three outermost 

 feathers also with a large white marking on inner- 

 web ; sides of head and under parts bright sulphur 

 yellow, slightly paler on abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts ; lores, upper edge of eyelid, and ear-coverts 

 black ; a black patch on each side of brea,st ; under 

 wing-coverts grey ; inner web of outermost tail-feather, 

 and sometimes of the second, white almost to the tip; 

 beak blackish horn-coloured, pale yellowish on lower 

 mandible ; feet horn-coloured ; iridesi dark brown. 

 Female above olive-greenish ; greenish yellow below, 

 with a greenish olive tint on the throat, breast and 

 flanks ; wings and tail dark grey, the feathers mar- 

 gined with paler grey ; the wing-speculum only indi- 

 cated by narrow whitish edges slightiy extending over 

 the outer primaries. Habitat, Venezuela, Colombia, 

 Ecuador, and Peru. 



Mr. T. K. Salmon says (Pioc. Zool. Sac., 1879, p. 

 508): "This species builds a pretty nest, often art- 

 fully placed on the branch of a fruit-tree. It is com- 

 posed entirely of dried grass intermixed with moss, 

 cotton and lichen ; sometimes the cotton abounds. It 

 is very carefully finished and delicately lined with hair. 

 The eggs are three in number, white, slightly tinged 

 with blue, without any spots. It breeds in June ana 

 July, and is a very common bird. The young first 

 assume the plumage of the female, and after the breed- 

 ing season they are generally seen in flocks of ten or 

 twelve." 



Taczanowsky only says of this bird that its habits 

 resemble those of C. capital i*, respecting which he 

 gives very little information beyond the fact that it 

 wanders about in companies often consisting of several 

 dozen individuals ; is most frequently met with in 

 plantations, but sometimes in the forests of the sierra, 

 and feeds on the seeds of a certain bamboo-like grass 

 of very lofty growth, and that its song is like that of 

 the European Siskin. 



Captain Pam brought home two of these birds and 

 presented them to the London Zookwrical Societv in 

 July, 1906. 



YKLLOW-BELLIED SISKIN (Chrysomitris ranfftot/a*lrn). 

 Above black ; the flights excepting the innermost 

 secondaries yellow at the base, but with black shafts ; 

 tail-feathers, excepting the central ones, with the basal 

 half yellow ; sides of head and throat black like the 

 crown ; thighs and bases of axillaries also black ; 

 remainder o<f under surface yellow, greenish at sides 

 and flanks ; the flights blackish, with the inner webs 

 yellow towards the base ; soft parts not described. 

 Female above dull olive ; median and greater wing- 



