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to captivity, and with reasonable care and attention soon adapts

itself to its new surroundings and becomes quite tame. It

seems blessed with a prodigious appetite, and for a bird of its

size consumes an enormous quantity of food. As it only requires

and does best on plain canary seed as a staple (bemp seed and

maw seed are much appreciated in addition) the aviarist need

not begrudge the little chap his living, especially when we are

able to record the fadt that, when not eating, it is either singing

its quaint little song, or attending to its toilet.


It, as frequently as not, prefers to roost, if it can be called

“ roosting,” on the wires, whether of cage or aviary, and some¬

times head downwards. In its acrobatic performances it has

something in common with the Titmice, and there is some

resemblance in their respective bills.


I have never been able to understand why we see so few

Siskin hybrids, because, in my experience, it is almost as ready

to pair with other finches as the Greenfinch, which is saying a

great deal. It is a matter of ancient history, however, for

Mudie, writing fifty } r ears ago, tells us that the hybrid produced

between the Siskin and the Canary Finch is very handsome and

fertile ! Certainly the Siskin-Canary mule (I suppose I must

refer to a bird with a Canary for one of its parents, asa“ mule ”

and not as a “ hybrid ”) is, to my mind, far prettier than some of

the crosses which are produced in greater numbers.


In common with the other members of the finch family,

the Siskin offers us some interesting varieties; some being

much brighter in colour and markings than others, the differences

in the cap especially being very noticeable. Some have the cap

black and unbroken, while others have it laced, i.e., the margins

of the head-feathers are tinged with grey, giving the cap a

spangled appearance, which, in a good specimen, has a very

pleasing effect. A little patch of black feathers under the chin

is, on some, very conspicuous, but on others hardly noticeable.


Writing in this connexion, it is curious to record how

superior in colour and markings the genuine English-caught

Siskin is, as a rule, to that of the Siskins sent to us by continen¬

tal dealers ; all of which seem to bear a more or less washed

out appearance, and run smaller in size than those from our

midland counties. I say it is curious, because just the reverse

obtains in the case of the continental Goldfinches and Redpolls.

It would be interesting to know the cause of these differences,

and I think it would form a good subjedt for discussion in the

pages of our Magazine at some future date.



