310 INSESSORES. CARDUELIS. Siskin. 



ance in France, and in other parts of the Continent, as we 

 learn from Buffon and some other writers. The true habi- 

 tat of this bird appears to be in the northern part of Europe, 

 as it is plentiful in Sweden, Norway, and the north of Ger- 

 many. — In the neighbourhood of London it is called Aber- 

 devine, and is occasionally met with by the bird-catchers, 

 who obtain a considerable price for it, although its song is 

 said to be below mediocrity ; the contrary of which is assert- 

 ed by Bewick, who kept a caged Siskin, and says that " the 

 song, though not so loud as that of the canary, is pleasing 

 and sweetly various." Willoughby tells us, that in Sus- 

 sex, the Siskin is called the Barley Bird, as it makes its ap- 

 pearance at the time of sowing that grain ; and this asser- 

 tion, later compilers have implicitly echoed, though I am 

 inclined to think that the above appellation will be found 

 attached to the Yellow Wagtail, first seen about that time, 

 and not to the Siskin, which has usually left the country be- 

 Nest, &c. fore that period. — According to Temminck, it builds in the 

 highest branches of the pine, thus accounting for the nest 

 having escaped the researches of the earlier ornithologists. 

 It is now ascertained to breed in some of the pine woods in the 

 Highlands of Scotland. Near Killin, these birds were ob- 

 served by Sir William Jardine and myself to be in pairs 

 in the month of June, inhabiting a wood of very old and 

 lofty pines ; but we were unable to procure the nests, from 

 the height and inaccessible nature of the trees. — The eggs 

 are four or five in number, of a bluish-white, speckled with 

 Food, purplish-red. — Its food, in addition to the seeds of the alder 

 and birch, comprises those of the pine, elm, and maple ; and 

 in searching for which its attitudes are very picturesque, 

 similar to those of the Lesser Redpole. It is easily tamed, 

 and, like the Goldfinch, may be taught a variety of tricks. 

 In a confined state, it readily breeds with the Canary Finch. 



Plate 55. Fig. 6. Male bird. Natural size. 



Bill dusky, with a pinkish tinge, much compressed ante- 



