SISKINS. 



95 



coverts blackish tipped with olive, whitish at ends ; 

 flio-hts and tail-feathers blackish with pale olive 

 fringes; ends of secondaries whitish; lores yellowish 

 is also the front of cheeks; under parts brighter 

 olivaceous yellow, paler on abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts ; thighs, under wing-coverts and axillaries ashy, 

 the last-mentioned fringed with yellow; flights below 

 dusky, ashy along inner web. Habitat, Costa Rica to 

 Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. 



Mr T K Salmon sent home eggs of this species 

 (see Proc. Zool. Soc., 1879, p. 508). They axe described 

 as "pale o-reenish white, thickly but faintly freckled 

 with lilac and brownish spots ; axis 7, diam. 5 ; and 

 this would seem to be all that has been recorded respect- 

 in"- the wild life of the present species. 



Captain Pam presented a specimen of this siskin to 

 the London Zoological Gardens! in November, 1906. 

 YELLOW-HUMPED SISKIN (Ohrysomitris -uropygialis). 

 Entire head and upper surface black, the feathers of 

 the upper parts with yellow margins ; nights with a 

 terminal white fringe, best marked on the inner 

 secondaries, which have broad yellow borders towards 

 the ends; remainder of nights yellow ait the base; 

 shorter upper tail-coverts yellow, longer ones black with 

 yellow fringe; basal two-thirds of all excepting the 

 central tail-feathers yellow ; under surface from throat 

 backwards yellow, greener at sides, the flanks varied 

 with blackish; thighs dusky at base; flights below 

 blackish, yellow towards base of inner webs ; beak Leaden, 

 feet brown. Female apparently undescribed. Habitat, 

 Chili to South Peru. Russ states that the food of this 

 Siskin consists of oily seeds of plants on the Cordilleras. 

 Its behaviour is shy and cautious, therefore it must be 

 difficult to capture. According to Landbeck it does 

 not long survive its craving for liberty, which, says 

 Russ, is the more to be deplored, in that it would be 

 treasured as an admirable songster; he says also that 

 in spite of its wide range it has hitherto only been 

 received singly and extremely rarely in the bird-trade. 



BLACK SISKIN (Chrysomitris atrata). 

 Above dead black ; greater wing-coverts tipped with 

 vellow ; flights, excepting inner secondaries, yellow at 

 the base ; tail-feathers, excepting the central ones, 

 yellow at the base; abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 yellow; thighs pale yellow; under wing-coverts, 

 axillariesi and base of flights below yellow. Female or 

 young browner than male ; yellow paler ; the median 

 wing-coverts tipped, like the greater coverts, with 

 yellow; the flights with yellowish white margins 

 towards the end of outer web; under surface yellow 

 from the throat backwards ; the breasts mottled with 

 Tsrown. "Mendoza to Bolivia and Peru" (Sharpe). 



Taczanowski (" Orn. Perou," Vol. III., p. 53) says : 

 " The nest is composed of an irregular bed of moss 

 mixed with a little wool, some stems of dry grass, 

 rootlets, and little twigs, upon which the true nest is 

 constructed of wool and different kinds of hair, rarely 

 also including a few feathers. All this structure is 

 thick and very compact ; interior shallow, but carefully 

 moulded. Height, 4.5 ; width, .13 ; diameter of interior. 

 4.5 ; depth, 2.5 centimetres. All found by M. Jellski 

 under the straw-covered roofs." 



" The eggs are greenish white, variously spotted, even 

 among specimens of the same clutch. Eggs found on 

 the 30th April differ from one another in this respect : 

 one has at the large end 1 a zone formed of little reddish 

 spots, very pale and indistinct, and some other darker 

 ones scattered over the rest of the surface ; another has 

 a similar zone nearer to the large end and fewer but 

 larger dark spots on the zcre and none on the rest of 



the surface ; on the third the zone is reduced to some 

 small spots, some dark dots and some nearly black 

 tangled veining, one of which extends over nearly half 

 the length of the egg ; an egg of the second clutch, 

 on the other hand, has a broad zone near the small end 

 formed of dark spots and dots, and little speckling on 

 the remainder of the surface, the large end is almost 

 unspotted. Dimensions: 18.6 x 19-6 to 13 x 13.6 

 millimetres." 



Mr. Ambrose A. Lane, writing on the birds of Chili 

 (The Ibis, 1897, pp. 22-23) says : " I first saw these 

 birds at Huasco, in Tarapaca, in January, 1890, and 

 subsequently at Sacaya. 



" They did not appear to be stationary for any length 

 of time, but frequented stretches of the low bush in 

 large scattered flocks, and I saw none after February, 

 and concluded they had migrated. 



" The only note I observed them utter was an insignifi- 

 cant twitter when flitting from bush to bush. I did not 

 see any at altitudes above 10,500 feet." 



According to Russ, this bird is caught and caged by 

 the Indians on account of its admdrable song, and he 

 expresses the hope that it may eventually be freely 

 imported into Europe. Hitherto he says he knows of 

 only one male having been received by Mr. E. Linz, of 

 Hamburg. 



BLACK-CHINNED SISKIN (Chrysomitris barbata). 



Above yellowish-green, becoming more yellow on lower 

 back and rump ; mantle and upper back with blackish 

 centres to the feathers ; median and greater coverts 

 yellow, the latter black at base ; flights black, more or 

 less edged with yellow, the bases yellow, confined to the 

 outer web in the primaries, iand forming a broad belt ; 

 upper tail-coverts greenish yellow edged with ashy 

 grey ; tail blackish, yellow at base, the inner webs of the 

 feathers edged with whitish, the outer webs with ashy 

 excepting at base ; crown black, the feathers with slight 

 olive margins ; sides of head and neck greenish yellow ; 

 lores whitish ; cheeks and under surface bright yellow ; 

 sides greenish; centre of throat black; abdomen white; 

 flanks ashy ; thighs yellowish ash-coloured ; longer under 

 tail-coverts ashy with black centres, the remainder 

 yellow ; under wing-coverts and axillaries yellow with 

 dusky bases ; flights dusky, yellow towards base of inner 

 webs. Female altogether duller, wiith less defined mark- 

 ings on wing, no black on crown, a pale yellow forehead 

 joining a long yellow eyebrow stripe running into the 

 same colour at siide of neck ; ear-coverts dull olive ; 

 cheeks and under surface pale yellow with an ashy 

 tinge ; abdomen white ; sides olive-yellow ; lower flanks 

 brownish. Habitat, " Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and 

 Chili" (Sharpe). 



Mr. Lane (The Ibis, 1897, pp. 21-22) says :" This 

 species is one of the most popular and familiar small 

 birds throughout Chili. It is very numerous in the 

 southern provinces, and from its beauty, docility, and 

 singling capacities is kept by many people as a cage-bird. 

 It is known everywhere as the ' Jilquero,' pronounced 

 ' Silquero ' in the southern provinces. 



" These birds closely resemble the common Siskin in 

 general appearance and colouring, as also dn habits. I 

 did not observe them in the central provinces, -but was 

 told they occur as winter visitants. I found them very 

 numerous in Arauco, and also about Valdivia ; but south 

 of the latter district I did not observe so many, though 

 a certain number occurred as far south as I went, and dn 

 Chiloe. They bred at Rio Bueno about November, 

 somewhat earlier than other small species there. 



" I was not fortunate in getting any eggs of this bird, 

 but found a new nest, which was placed in a thick 



