26 8EBIN FINGH. 



also been found in the Hertz Mountains, and^, according to Bechsteiu, 

 it is often seen in Thuringia. Dr. Leitli Adams informs me that it is 

 an autumn visitor at Malta, is common in Sicily, and very common 

 in Smyrna. Naumann remarks as worthy of notice that the Serin 

 Finch is not equally plentiful in the same country, and Schinz 

 ■writes to him that he has never procured it in the Canton of Zurich, 

 though they are common a four hours' journey out of it. They are 

 said to be plentiful in the neighbourhood of Heidelberg and Offenbach, 

 but in the country between very rare. Count Miihle says it is very 

 common in Greece, in company with Finches and Linnets, and that 

 its colours are in that country very bright. Captain Loche includes 

 it among the birds of Algeria; and Mr. Salvin ("Ibis," vol. i., p. ol3,) 

 says that it is common about the olive-groves of Sousa, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Turin, but rare in the more elevated and mountainous 

 parts of the Eastern Atlas. 



A special interest attaches to this bird in consequence of its having 

 been recently captured in England, but as it has not hitherto been 

 figured as a British bird, it comes into my list. The account of this 

 capture will be found related by Mr. Bond, in the "Zoologist" for 

 1860, p. 7105. One specimen was said to have been caught in a clap- 

 net on the 20th. of June, 1859, near Brighton; and a second near 

 London, in October, 1859, shortly after a severe storm. Mr. Rowley 

 also ("Ibis," January, 1861,) alludes to other specimens having been 

 taken near Brighton. 



The Serin Finch is generally a migratory bird, quitting its summer 

 and breeding ground in October, and returning the following March; 

 but in the mild climate of the Bhine, Naumann tells us it remains 

 all the year round. 



It lives most frequently in fruit-gardens, orchards, or avenues of 

 walnut or nut-trees, and vineyards; more rarely in oak and beech 

 woods, and loves to dwell among willows and alders, on the banks of 

 brooks and rivers, as well as in garden-trees in the middle of villages 

 or near buildings. Naumann, from whom I am now quoting, further 

 remarks that wherever it lives in summer, it makes itself known by 

 its restless habits, and its custom of always singing on the summit of 

 the tree tops, from which it often flies down to the roofs of buildings. 

 In autumn it is more retired, but remains long on the thick tree 

 tops. 



It seeks its food principally on the ground, on which account it is 

 often seen there, but never very far from trees and bushes, and 'still 

 less in the open fields. It does not seem to like fir or pine woods. 

 In its movements it is very lively and active, springing from branch 



