86 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



appear almost as if these little winter visitants were 

 unknown around that district. 



The plumage of the Siskin, together with its other 

 natural advantages, gives it a very high position in the 

 list of Finches. Its beauty is indeed beyond gainsaying, 

 a brilliant lemon-yellow pervading its plumage throughout ; 

 and this colour is thrown into especial contrast by the 

 deepness of the black of the head and rest of the plumage. 



Several instances have been recorded of Siskins breed- 

 ing in confinement ; and it may be that the patience and 

 perseverance of breeders may in the dim future make the 

 Siskin a rival progenitor to the original Green Canary. 

 The Siskin even at the present day mates freely with the 

 Canary ; and the mules produced are handsome birds, and 

 especially sweet songsters. 



This interesting little bird is probably a native of 

 Norway and Sweden, although found breeding in certain 

 districts of Germany. What more concerns our present 

 readers is the fact that the Siskin has been found breeding 

 near London, although it is extremely possible that these 

 instances as remarked of the Redpoll were merely 

 escaped birds. Yet it has been proved from the time of 

 Yarrell that many nests existed in the pine-trees of Scot- 

 land ; and an enthusiastic ornithologist of the present day, 

 Mr. Booth, of the Dyke Road Museum, Brighton, was 

 fortunate enough to find an unmistakeably wild nest whilst 

 he was sojourning in Scotland. 



The nest is thus described by Morris. "It is placed 

 in trees, at only a short or moderate height from the 

 ground, and is composed of stalks of grass and small root 

 and fibres, moss and lichens, lined with hair, rabbits' fur, 

 thistle-down, wool, or a few feathers." Bechstein, how- 



