FINCHES. 387 



primaries being edged with bright yellow ; the tail-feathers are blackish, edged 

 with yellow, and all but the central feathers yellow at the base : the chin is black, 

 and the throat and breasl are bright yellow. 



A less well-known member of the siskin group is the citril finch 



(<'. citrwiella), which is an inhabitant of tin' Tyrol, many parts of 

 Switzerland, Greece, and other districts in the south of Europe. Avoiding the 

 plains, this bird generally nests among pine-forests, as far as possible from human 

 habitations. In the Jura, Mr. Scott Wilson states that after some search his party 

 at length discovered a nest of this finch " placed high up in a spruce-fir, at the 

 extreme end of a branch. The chassewr climbed up, and brought down the nest 

 with three eggs. This nest, which contained several feathers of the nutcracker, 

 was cup-shaped, and constructed chiefly of dry grass steins, moss, and thistle-down, 

 woven together with fine roots and hair, lined with thistle-down and feathers. 

 Another nest contained no feathers, being lined entirely with thistle-down. A 

 third was lined entirely with hair, and very little thistle-down had been used 

 in its construction." The eggs are greenish blue in ground-colour, speckled with 

 reddish grey and blood-red. The citril finch is a favourite among continental bird 

 fanciers, being easily tamed, and occasionally hybridising with other finches in 

 captivity. Although it passes the summer among the mountain forests, it descends 

 from the higher grounds during severe weather. It is valued as a cage-bird, 

 principally because it possesses a loud, pleasant song, sometimes compared to that 

 of the canary. The adult male in breeding-plumage has the general colour above 

 dull olive-green, with dusky shaft-streaks to the feathers; the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts being brighter yellow; the nape ami sides of the throat art! ashy grey; 

 the wings and tail dusky brown, edged with ashy yellow ; and the crown of the 

 head, as well as tin' feathers round the eye, the fore-part of the cheeks, and the 

 throat and chest olive-yellow. 



The linnets have a hard and conical bill, a somewhat pointed 



wing, the tail rather long and forked, the metatarsus short, and the 

 toes stout. They are also characterised by the possession of a nearly uniform 

 brown or whitish brown plumage, generally associated to some small extent with 

 pale crimson. Chiefly found in the northern parts of the Old World, they are 

 also represented in the Arctic portions of North America. 



The common linnet (Linaria cannabina) inhabits most parts of 



Europe, being generally common from Spain eastwards to Central 

 Asia, although assuming brighter plumage in Turkestan and other distant parts of 

 its range. The linnet in England frequents commons covered with gorse, in which 

 its nest is often placed ; but sometimes it nests in a hedge or small tree. Generally 

 an early breeder, we have seen the young in the nest as late as the month of 

 August. It builds a loose, untidy nest of fine twigs and fibres lined with hair, 

 wool, and sometimes a few feathers, in which it lays from four to six eggs of a 

 greenish white ground-colour, blotched with red. After the breeding-season linnets 

 range through the fields in vast flocks, often composed of one sex almost exclusively. 

 As autumn advances, many of the linnets that have been bred in the English 

 woodlands cross the sea to other countries ; while others again join company 

 with bands of greenfinches in search of food. The linnet is frequently white 



