ss BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Egypt : and northwards to Northern Germany, Denmark, and occasionally the 

 British Islands." 



Although there is no absolute proof that the few specimens of this species 

 which have been obtained in Great Britain may not all have escaped from con- 

 finement, the Serin being a well-known and tolerably freely imported cage-bird ; 

 the fact that it breeds in the Netherlands, renders it quite possible, and even 

 probable, that they may have been stragglers to our coasts. Seebohm observes : 

 " It is said that a Serin was caught near Portsmouth, in April, 1852, another at 

 Taunton, in 1866, and a third at Worthing, in 1869; but by far the greater 

 number are those brought by the Brighton bird-catchers to Mr. Swaysland. Rarely 

 a year passes without two or three being thus obtained, although it sometimes 

 happens that none are caught for a couple of years." The claim of this bird to 

 be included in the British list is, therefore, considerably greater than that of the 

 Scarlet Rose-finch, a bird generally to be obtained in Calcutta, and frequently 

 included in consignments of cage-birds from India.* 



The male Serin, of which the wild Canary is considered to be a sub-species, 

 has the forehead, a superciliary streak, the rump, and the under-parts, bright yellow; 

 the under tail-coverts are, however, almost white, and the flanks streaked with 

 brown ; the remainder of the body, as well as the wing and tail-feathers, are deep 

 olive-brown, mostly with yellowish margins ; but the greater wing-coverts and 

 secondaries are margined with sordid white ; beak dark horn-brown, paler at the 

 base of the lower mandible ; feet pale brown ; iris dark brown. The female is 

 duller and more prominently streaked than the male, and in the winter both sexes 

 are distinctly duller than in the summer. The young show very little yellow 

 colouring in their plumage. 



As bearing upon the question whether or not the Serin is likely, from time 

 to time, to visit England, the following note by Herr Gatke is of interest : " Now, 

 although one can hardly expect to hear of this bird building a nest in Heligoland, 

 the occurrence here of five young grey individiials during the summer months at 

 all events seems to admit of the conclusion that these birds may have been bred 

 in the neighbourhood of the island, perhaps in Sleswick-Holstein. I do not, how- 

 ever, share the view that breeding attempts of this kind, made in districts far 

 distant from the regular home, justify one in assuming an extension of the breeding 

 area." It is conceivable, that birds bred far from their usual summer haunts, might 



* It may be asked how these birds would be likely to escape. In 1896, a friend of mine, who has a 

 collection of some five or six hundred foreign birds, had his aviaries broken into, a few birds stolen, and all the 

 aviary doors left wide open : not a few interesting foreigners escaped, and were not recaptured by the owner. 

 This is the second time that he has been plundered, yet he is but one among hundreds of aviculturists in 

 Great Britain. 



