198 PASSERINJE. CAHDUELIS. LINOTA. 



of moss, lichens, grass, and other materials, with a lining of 

 seed-down or other delicate filaments. The eggs, about five, 

 are nine- twelfths in length, six and a half twelfths in breadth, 

 bluish-white, or pale, greyish-blue, marked with a few spots 

 of greyish-purple and brown. 



Goldfinch. Goldspink. Goldie. 



Fringilla Carduelis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 118. Fringilla car- 

 duelis, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 376. Carduelis elegans, 

 Red-fronted Thistlefinch, or Goldfinch, MacGillivray, Brit, 

 Birds, i. 393. 



123. CARDUELIS SPINUS. BLACK-HEADED THISTLEFINCH, 



OR SISKIN. 



Male with the upper part of the head and throat black ; 

 back greenish-grey ; lower parts yellow ; sides white, marked 

 with black streaks ; quills and larger coverts black ; basal 

 part and outer edges of quills, and tips of secondary coverts 

 yellow ; tail yellow, black at the end. Female with the up- 

 per parts greenish-grey, streaked with black ; lower parts 

 whitish, variegated with narrow black spots. 



Male, 4 T V, 9, 2 T V, T 5 *, &, A, T V Female, 4 T V, 8 j. 



The Siskin appears in autumn and winter in large flocks, 

 feeding on the seeds of thistles and other Compositae, as well 

 as on those of the birch and alder, which it extracts from the 

 cones. When engaged in this manner, it clings to the twigs 

 in all sorts of attitudes, and is commonly so intent on its oc- 

 cupation as to allow a person to approach unnoticed. It has 

 of late years been found breeding in various parts of Scot- 

 land and England ; and it is probable that most, if not all, of 

 the individuals seen in this country in the winter months are 

 indigenous. 



Aberdevine. 



Fringilla Spinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 332. Fringilla spinus, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 371. Carduelis Spinus, Black-head- 

 ed Thistlefinch or Siskin, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 400. 



GENUS LXIL LINOTA. LINNET. 



Bill short, straight, conical, nearly as broad as high at the 

 base, compressed toward the end, acute ; upper mandible with 

 the dorsal line nearly straight, the ridge broad and rounded, 

 the sides rounded, the edges inflected, with the notch obso- 

 lete ; lower mandible with the angle semicircular, the dorsal 



