THE SISKIN", OR ABEEDEVINE. 467 



until at length, when the severe weather had CLuite passed away, there remained none , 

 except the original pair." 



After perusing the foregoing note, Mr. Burough added : — 



" This account is perfectly correct ; and I have only to remark that it was the innocent 

 cause of making many idlers, for several strange gentlemen were in the habit of stopping 

 for hours in amazement at the novel scene. My house is situated immediately on the 

 banks of the Shannon, the road only separating it from the shore, and scarcely any timber 

 growing nearer than a mile. The two pet Goldfinches must, in their flight, have gone a 

 considerable distance to make out new acquaintances, for they (Goldfinches) are very scarce 

 indeed close to the sea — as Cappa Lodge is situated." 



There are few birds in so much favour as the Goldfinch, for it soon accommodates 

 itself to captivity, is of a most loving disj)osition, and being extremely intelligent and 

 docile, learns to play all kinds of tricks. I remember one of these birds that used to 

 live in a drawer in the surgery of my father's house, and was a most amusing little 

 creature, hauling up its daily supply of water by means of a little metal bucket, perclung 

 on the finger and whistling, and firing a little cannon with perfect steadiness and absence 

 of alarm. Many professional exhibitors are in the habit of teaching their Goldfinches 

 to go through a regular performance, and even to enact a sort of play or pantomime, 

 which is quite intelligible even without the somewhat involved explanations of the 

 projjrietor. 



The nest of the Goldfinch is very neat and prettily made, sometimes built in a hedge 

 or thick bush, but mostly placed towards the extremity of a thickly foliaged tree-branch, 

 such being a favourite for this purpose. In this position, the nest is so ingeniously 

 concealed from the gaze of every one beneath, by the disposition of the branches and 

 leaves and by the manner in which the exterior of the nest is made to harmonize in tint 

 with the bark, that it can scarcely be discerned even when the observer has climbed the 

 tree and is looking down upon the nest. The bird, too, seldom flies directly in or out of 

 the nest, but alights at a little distance from her tree, and then slips quietly through the 

 leaves until she reaches her eggs or young. 



The materials of which the exterior of the nest is made differ according to the tree in 

 which it is placed. In general, fine grasses, wool, hairs, and very slender twigs are 

 employed in constructing the walls, and the interior is softly lined with feathers, down, 

 and hairs. The eggs are generally four or five in number, and delicately marked with 

 small dots and streaks of light purplish brown upon a white ground, having a tinge 

 of blue, something like " sky-blue" milk. 



This pretty bird is coloured after a very beautiful and rather complicated fashion. 

 Around the base of the bill is a band of bright crimson, and the top of the head is jetty 

 black, continued down the sides of the face and ending in the point of the shoulders. The 

 sides of the face are white, and a stripe of the same hue comes below the black cap where 

 it joins the nape of the neck. The back and upper surface are greyish brown, and the 

 throat, breast, sides of the body, and thighs are tinged with the same colour. The greater 

 wing-coverts and the first half of the outer edge of the primaries are light yellow, and 

 the remainder of the primaries are black. Each of the tertials has a white spot at the 

 extremity, and the upper tail-coverts are white with a grey tinge. The tail is black, with 

 a spot or two of white at the tip of several of the feathers, and the abdomen is greyish 

 white. The female is coloured in a somewhat similar fashion, but the black takes a 

 browner tinge, the white and yellow are dashed with grey, and the scarlet band round the 

 beak is much narrower and spotted with black. The total length of the bird is about 

 five inches. 



The Siskin, or Aberdevine, is one of the British birds which performs an annual 

 migration either partial or complete, a question about which there has been some 

 controversy, and one which may fully receive a solution from the supposition that some 

 birds remain in this country throughout the year, retiring no farther to the north than 

 Scotland, while others pass to Norway and Sweden for the purpose of nidification, and do 

 not return to this land until the autumn. 



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