THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



assuming a variety of grotesque attitudes, the twittering 

 call-notes being uttered at intervals. The food of this 

 species, in addition to small seeds, consists of buds and 

 insects and larvae, the latter forming the staple sustenance 

 of the young. During the non-breeding season the bird 

 lives more or less in flocks, and their appearance in any 

 locality is very erratic. The Siskin is reported as having 

 bred in the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Middlesex, 

 so that a look-out for it should be kept within the London 

 radius. Eggs for the first broods are laid in April, for 

 the second in June. Its favourite nesting-place is a fir- 

 tree, some thirty or forty feet from the ground. The nest 

 is made of fine twigs, grass stalks, and roots, lined with 

 moss, hair, down, and less frequently feathers, and is 

 similar to that of the Greenfinch, but smaller. The 

 five or six eggs are very pale bluish green, spotted and 

 speckled with dark reddish brown and pale grey, occa- 

 sionally streaked with even darker brown. I may add 

 that during the breeding season the male has a short, 

 twittering, yet musical and pleasing little song. 



The adult male Siskin has the head and throat black, 

 the back yellowish green streaked with dusky black, the 

 rump yellower ; the under parts below the throat are 

 yellow, palest on the abdomen and darkest on the flanks, 

 which are streaked with black ; the wings and tail are 

 black marked with yellow. Bill brown, paler at the base ; 

 tarsi and toes pale brown ; irides brown. Length 4^- 

 inches. The female is similar to the male in general 

 coloration, but is rather duller, and wants the black on 

 the head and throat, a characteristic also of the nestling. 



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