FINCHES. 



395 



locality it is tolerably tame, though, so far as my own experience goes, it is very shy 

 and difficult of approach. During the fortnight I spent at Staufen, I never got 

 within range of one outside the town, though on several occasions I saw and heard 

 it. In the town itself I several times saw specimens ; but as they doubtless had 

 nests in the neighbourhood, and as, besides, it would not well do to shoot in the 

 town, I did not obtain a specimen. It may easily be recognised by its call-note 

 and flight. The former somewhat resembles that of the canary, but may easily be 

 distinguished by anyone who has heard it. Its song is poor, and lacks both depth 

 and melody, being merely a continuous twittering warble, generally uttered, it 

 would seem, as the bird is seated on the topmost spray of some tree, usually a fruit- 



SERIN AND RED-FRONTED FINCHES (\ nat. size). 



tree. Its flight is exceedingly swift, and may not inaptly be compared to that of a 

 sand-martin, which it far more nearly resembles than that of any other finch. It 

 sometimes sings whilst on the wing ; that is, it will fly up from the spray on which 

 it has been seated like a tree-pipit, and will continue its song during the short time 

 it is in the air. It feeds chiefly on seeds of various kinds at least, all those I have 

 at different times shot, and the contents of whose stomachs I examined, had been 

 feeding on these alone grass-seeds and those of the various wild plants and weeds, 

 chiefly such as are oily ; and it appears always to shell the seeds and discard the 

 husks before swallowing them. It seeks after food in fields, gardens, and especially 

 in the vineyards, in which last it is usually to be found. The nest is a very neat, 

 compact, little structure, very carefully made, and neatly shaped. It is built of 

 fine roots and grass-bents, and neatly lined with feathers and horsehair. The 



