SISKIN'. 



Siren atriatrt. 

 m, head and anterior part seen in profile, choiring the branchijo and foot. 



SISKIN. [CARDUELIS; ABERDEVINE.] 



SISMONDINE, a Mineral of a deep-green brilliant colour. It 

 cleave* readily, affording highly lustrous lamina;. Brittle, easily 

 powdered; colour of tbe powder bright grayish-green. Scratches 

 glass. Specific gravity about 3*565. It is fouud at St Marcel in 

 Piedmont IU analyaia by Delesse gives 



Silica 24-1 



Alumina 43-2 



Protoxide of Iron 23 8 



Water; trace of Titanium . . . . 7'6 



987 



SISON, a peniK of Plants belonging to the natural order I'mbellifera. 

 It possesses ilic following characters : calyx obsolete ; petals broadly 

 obcordate, deeply notched, and curved with an indexed point ; styles 

 very short ; fruit ovate, laterally compressed ; carpels with five filiform 

 equal ridges, of which the lateral ones are marginal ; interstices with 

 ingle short club-shaped vitlrc; seed gibbous, convex, plane in front; 

 universal and partial involucre of few leaves. 



Several species wen formerly referred to this genus which are now 

 placed under various genera. The only species that is now decidedly 

 referred to Sison is the .*>. A momum, Hedge Bastard Stone Parsley. It 

 is a native of France, Sicily, Italy, Greece, and Croat Britain. It is 

 not unfrcquent in this country, especially in chalk noils in rather 

 rauist ground, under hedges, ic. It is known by its erect, terete, 

 paniculately branched stem ; pinnate leaves, the lower leaflets rather 

 toothed and lobed, upper ones cut into narrow segments. The flowers 

 are cream-coloured. The green plant when bruised has a peculiarly 

 nauseous smell, something like that of bugs. The seeds are pungent 

 and aromatic, and were formerly celebrated as a diuretic, but are now 

 little used. 



SISSOO. [DALDERGIA.] 



SISY'MBIUl'M (from 3urtp$pim), the name of a genus of Plants 

 belonging to the natural order C'rufiftrte. It possesses a roundish 

 silique seated upon a torus; two stigmas, somewhat distinct, or 

 connate into a head ; calyx equal at the base ; ovate or oblong seeds ; 

 flat, incumbent, sometimes oblique cotyledons ; stamens not toothed. 

 The species are mostly perennial or annual herbs, with yellow or 

 white flowern, and leaves very variable on the same plant. About 

 &8 species aru enumerated, but comparatively few of these are culti- 

 vated. The genus, however, belongs to an order which possesses; no 

 injurious plants, and a few of the species are well known on account 

 of their uses. 



S. ojffinarum. Common Hedge-Mu*tard, has muricate piloso leaves, 

 a pilo*- stem, and subolate pods pressed to the rachis. It is a native 

 of Kurope, and grows in waste places and way-sides, among rubbish, I 

 nnd along the sides of walls. It is plentiful in Britain, and also the ; 

 north of Africa. Tbe whole plant is warm and acrid, and is often 

 cultivated for ne as a pot herb. 



.V /no, Lund-Hi llocket or I'.ro.id-Lcnvcd Hedge-Mustard. Stem and ' 

 leaves smooth ; leaves runcinate ; lobes toothed ; pod erect. It is a 

 native of watte places throughout Europe, but especially about 

 Ixindnn. It is said to have entirely covered the ground in the 

 following spring of the great fire of London ia 1086. The former 

 specie* u also remarkable for appearing on the ground where fires 

 have existed. 



ti. .SopAtVi, Five-Leaved Hedge Mustard, or Flixwecd. Leaves doubly 



8ITTA. 



pinnatifiil. slightly hairy ; lobes linear or oval ; pedicels four times 

 longer than the cnlyx ; petals shorter. It grow* mi dry banks, waste 

 ground, dung-hills, and among rubbish in most parts of Kurope. It 

 U frequent in Great Britain. 



.S millrfulium, Millfoil-Leavcd Mix weed. Leaves somewhat tripin- 

 nate, hoary ; lobules blunt, small ; stems shrubby ; petals larger than 

 the calyx. A native of Teneriffe, on the rocks in the lower parts of 

 the island. It is a small branched shrub, with corymbose flowers. 



S. ilricturimum, Spear- Leaved Hedge-Mustard. Leaves lanceolate, 

 stalked, toothed, pubescent. It has intensely yellow flowers, with 

 rods two inches long ; the stem is erect, and branching at the top. 



SISYKINVIIIUM. |liui>v 



SITTA, a genus of Birds belonging to the family CerMadir. Mr. 

 Swainson places the genus in the sub-family Fittinrr, being the second 

 of his family Cerlhiadce. Prince Bonaparte makes it the first sub- 

 family of that family. 



It has the following generic characters : Bill straight, cylindrical, 

 slightly compressed, subulated, acuminated. Tongue short, horny, 

 and armed at the point. Nostrils liasal and rounded, partly bidden 

 by reflected bristles. Feet with three toes before and one behind, tin; 

 outer toe being joined at its base to the middle one ; hind toe of the 

 same length ns or longer than the middle one, with a long and h 

 claw. Tail of 12 feathers. Wings rather short; the first quill very 

 short, the third and fourth the longest. (Gould.) 



<S. Europaa, the Common Nuthatch, or Nutjobber. The plumagn 

 above is fine blue-gray ; quills and base of tail-feathers, except the 

 two middle ones, black, the outer tail-feather on each side with a 

 black spot near the tip. A black band passes from the bill through 

 the eye down the sides of the neck, ending abruptly near the 

 shoulders; throat whitish; rest of plumage below rufous-brown 

 blending into chestnut on the flanks ; bill and feet block ; iris hazel. 

 Sexes alike. 





> 

 Common Nuthatch (Silla Kuropan). 



This bird is in all probability the Zfmj of the Greeks, and 

 SUla of the latins. It is the Ziolo, Picchio Grigio, Raparino, and 

 Picchio Formicajo, of the Italians; Muratore of Savi; Torchepot and 

 I'ic-Maeou of th French ; Kleiber and liUuspecht of the Germans ; 

 Notwacka and Notpacka of the Swedes ; Spoctt-Mcise of the Danes ; 

 Nat-Bake of Brunnich : Kleiicr Nus.-Khacker of Kramer; and Dolor 

 y Cnau of the Welnh. 



Like the Woodpeckers and Creeperc, tho Nuthatch runs with 

 facility upon and about the trunks and branches of trees ; but tho 

 tail, which in short and rounded, in of n>i .i>ist alien to the bird in iU 

 progress. Unlike the Woodpeckers, however, tho Nuthatch runs with 

 the head downwards as well as upwards, and indeed the former 

 position of the head nppears to bo the favourite one; it generally 

 alights on a branch with tho head in the downward position, nnd 

 sleeps in that posture. It is almost constantly in motion. Its food 

 consists of insects and their larvic, berries, and nut*. The Utter it 

 fixes in some chink, and cracks them by repeated strokes of the bill. 

 " It is a pretty spectacle," srus Willughby, "to see her fetch a nut 

 out of her hoard, place it fast in a chink, and then, standing above 

 it, with its head downwards, striking it with all its force, break the 

 shell and citcli up the kcrm'1. " The same author found beetles in 

 the muacular stomach or ^i/wird nf 0:10 opened by him. The filbert 

 gives the Nuthatch but comparatively little trouble; but the more 



