42 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



THE BLACK-HEADED SISKIN. 



Chrysomitris icterica, LjCHT. 



MY experience with Siskins generally, has been so unpleasant, that 

 I cannot recommend them to any who wish to enjoy them for 

 any length of time. They seem to me to be the most delicate of all 

 the true Finches : even in the case of our British species, for one 

 specimen that has lived three or four years, at least a dozen have died 

 after a twelve-month of captivity. Of two American Siskins (I believe 

 Chrysomitris Yarrelli from Bahia and Pernambuco) which I purchased 

 at fifteen shillings a head, one died in a week and the other in a 

 fortnight, after singing in so lively and beautiful a manner, that one 

 wished them to live for ever. In the case of the present species, 

 I imported it in 1893 from the Argentines; it arrived in a puffy 

 condition and died three days afterwards. As a set-off against this 

 frailty, it cannot be denied that some of these birds are admirable 

 singers, almost attaining to the musical skill of the Serins and distinctly 

 excelling that of the Green Singing Finch : they are moreover the 

 most confiding and tamest of all FringillincE, 



The Black-headed Siskin is a native of Brazil and the Argentine 

 Republic to Chili. 



The male above is olive-yellowish, becoming bright yellow on the 

 hind part of the back, upper tail-coverts and base of tail feathers ; 

 the remaining portion of the tail black ; the wings, excepting at the 

 base, black, the median and greater coverts tipped with yellow ; the 

 flights with their bases and edges bright yellow ; nape, sides of face 

 and throat black ; back and sides of neck bright yellow, forming an 

 imperfect collar ; front of neck and body below yellow ; beak and legs 

 blackish ; iris brown. Length 4^ inches. 



Female greyer above, but the hind part of back yellower ; upper 

 tail-coverts grey-greenish ; tail feathers brownish, with less yellow at 

 base ; forehead slightly yellowish ; median and greater wing-coverts 

 tipped with greyish- white ; the quills less yellow at the base, the 

 secondaries edged with whitish towards the tip of the outer web ; 



