FEINGILLID^: CHRYSOMITRIS ] 81 



In confinement this species breeds both with the Cape and the 

 Common Canary. In a wild state it builds a small and neatly con- 

 structed cup-shaped nest in a low bush, of dry grass and small 

 stalks, lined with finer grass and the down of plants. The eggs, 

 three to five in number, are pale bluish-green, spotted at the large 

 end with several shades of reddish-brown. They average 0'68 x 0'50. 

 The young are hatched in eleven days, and remain in the nest for 

 about three weeks. They are fed on partly digested food from the 

 crops of the old birds for some time after they leave the nest. Two 

 broods are reared in the season, the first laying being in November, 

 the second in January. 



Genus VI. CHRYSOMITRIS. 



Type. 

 Chrysomitris, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 322 C. spinus. 



Bill rather attenuated, tapering to an acute point, the culmen 

 and sides nearly straight. Nostrils concealed by short stiff feathers 

 directed forwards. Wings rather long and pointed, the second 

 quill being slightly the longest. Tail rather short and slightly 

 forked. Tarsus slender ; claws curved and acute. Plumage soft, 

 the predominant tints chocolate-brown above, olive-yellow below; 

 the female of duller hue and more spotted on the lower surface. 



Chrysomitris totta. 



This genus contains the Siskins, some twenty-seven species in all. 

 They range over Europe, Asia, North and South America, and East 

 and South Africa ; three species are found in North-east and East 

 Africa, one only in South Africa. They are all birds of small size, 

 with a pretty and varied but not loud song ; they feed on small 

 seeds and insects, the young on insects exclusively. They build 

 small and neatly constructed open nests and lay four or five white 

 or bluish-white eggs, those of the majority of the species being 

 more or less spotted with brown. 



