280 SISKIN. 



as a matter of course, has been handed down from 

 one author to another. Temminck places it 

 among his birds of Japan. 



In the male, the crown and throat are black, 

 the feathers tipped with yellowish green. The 

 upper parts, cheeks, sides of the neck, and breast, 

 " siskin green," mixed with grayish green, and 

 streaked along the shafts on the centre of the 

 back with blackish green ; on the rump, cheeks, 

 and breast, the plumage is tinted with primrose 

 yellow. The wings are brownish black, the 

 quills edged with yellowish green, and having on 

 the base of the outer webs a patch of yellow- 

 ish white, forming a slanting and serrated bar. 

 The coverts are broadly tipped with greenish 

 white. The tail is brownish black, having the 

 feathers at the base pale primrose yellow. On 

 the belly the primrose yellow shades into pure 

 white, slightly dashed with the former colour on 

 the flanks, and having the feathers there, and on 

 the under tail coverts, grayish black along the 

 shafts. This is the plumage of the male in 

 winter. In the summer or breeding state, the 

 general tints are heightened in colour ; the black 

 of the wings becomes deeper, and the feathers of 

 the head and throat lose their pale tips. The 

 female is without the black on the crown or 

 throat, and the black of the wings and tail is 

 more subdued. The upper parts are entirely of 

 a grayish green, streaked along the centre with 

 blackish gray, and the under parts are nearly pure 

 white, tinted with primrose yellow on the breast, 



