86 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



that neighbourhood also, but is there considered 

 rare. 



GOLDFINCH, Fringilla carduelis. At one time 

 common, but now seldom seen ; owing, no doubt, 

 to the increased cultivation of waste lands, and the 

 disappearance of gorse and thistles, which seem to 

 have a great attraction for this species. A few may 

 be seen in autumn and in the early spring, but they 

 do not remain to breed here as formerly. 



SISKIN, Fringilla spinus. This handsome little 

 Finch is an uncertain visitant, appearing occasionally 

 towards the end of autumn, in company with Linnets 

 and Lesser Kedpoles. Mr. Shirley Hibberd, in an 

 article entitled 'The Birds of London,' * says : "Now 

 and then during winter I see that rare but lovely 

 little oddity, the Siskin. During the past few 

 months (Christmas, 1864-5), several have appeared, 

 and, as of yore, always careless, merry, full of anti- 

 podean feats, and singing a song which is the most 

 comical ever heard out of an avicular larynx." 



This species was formerly plentiful during most 

 winters among the alders in the brook near the 

 Decoy at Hendon, and has been found, though 

 rarely, at Kingsbury, Elstree, Stanmore, and Harrow 

 Weald. Mr. Spencer once saw a flock of twenty or 

 thirty Siskins, near Caen Wood, Hampstead, feeding 

 on the alders, and I learn from him that, in 1853, a 



* ' Intellectual Observer,' No. XXXIX., p. 174. 



