CAHDUELIS. — SPINUS. 13 



Carduelis carduelis britannica. British 

 Goldfinch. 



Acanthis carduelis britannicus Hartert, Vog. pal. Faun, 

 i. 1903, p. 68 : Rottingdean, Sussex. 



Carduelis elegans Stephens; B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 47 

 (part.) ; Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed". 1899, p. 173 (part.). 



Carduelis carduelis {Linn.) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xii. 1888, 

 p. 185 (part.). 



Distribution. — Resident, more or less locally distributed 

 in England and Wales, Ireland, and the lowlands of Scot- 

 land ; uncommon in the southern Highlands, rare or absent 

 elsewhere. 



G-enus SPINUS Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. 1816, p. 232. 



Type : S. spinus (Linn.). 



Spinus = atrivos, a small bird commonly eaten at Athens ; the name comes 

 from its shrill piping- cry (tttiXm = I chirp shrilly). 



Spinus spinus. Siskin. 



Fringilla spinus Limueus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 181 : 



Sweden. 



Chrysomitris spinus {Linn.) ; B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 48 ; 



Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xii. 1888, p. 212. 

 Carduelis spinus Saunders, Ifanual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 175. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — Resident, nesting 

 locally or occasionally in the north o£ England and in Wales, 

 regularly in the south-west o£ Scotland, the eastern Highlands, 

 and Ireland ; exceptionally elsewhere. A common Winter 

 Visitor, and occurring annually as a Bird of Passage in spring 

 and autumn in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. 



General Distribution. — Breeds locally up to the limit of 

 conifer-growth in northern and central Europe, ranging to 

 northern Italy, the Balkans and Caucasus, and throughout 

 Siberia to northern China and Japan. Winters plentifully 

 in southern Europe and occasionally in northern Africa. 



