SISKIN, 
FRINGILLA SPINUS, Linn. 
Fringilla spinus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 822 (1766); Naum. v. 
p- 155; Hewitson, i. p. 198. 
Carduelis spinus, Macg. i. p. 400; Yarr. ed. 4, ii. p. 126. 
Chrysomitris spinus, Dresser, iti. p. 541. 
Tarin, French; Zeisig, German’; Lugano, Spanish. 
This very pretty little Finch is a more or less frequent 
autumnal or winter visitor to most of our English 
counties, but has been found breeding, according to 
Mr. Howard Saunders, “ exceptionally in Surrey, Sussex, 
and Durham, and regularly in some parts of Cumber- 
land.” In the Highlands of Scotland it breeds regu- 
larly and in some numbers in the old fir-woods, and, as 
has been lately discovered, in several localities in Ireland. 
The beauty, extraordinary tameness, and pleasant song 
of the Siskin render it a very favourite cage-bird: the 
London bird-catchers used, in my boyhood, generally to 
speak of and sell this bird under the name of “ Aberde- 
vine,’ which sobriquet caused considerable confusion in 
the minds of certain uninitiated purchasers on account 
of its similarity to ‘‘ Aberdavat,” the name given by 
these dealers to a small exotic Finch, which is, if I 
