58 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
Egypt: and northwards to Northern Germany, Denmark, and occasionally the 
British Islands.” 
Although there is no absolute proof that the few specimens of this species 
which have been obtained in Great Britain may not all have escaped from con- 
finement, the Serin being a well-known and tolerably freely imported cage-bird ; 
the fact that it breeds in the Netherlands, renders it quite possible, and even 
probable, that they may have been stragglers to our coasts. Seebohm observes :— 
“Tt is said that a Serin was caught near Portsmouth, in April, 1852, another at 
Taunton, in 1866, and a third at Worthing, in 1869; but by far the greater 
number are those brought by the Brighton bird-catchers to Mr. Swaysland. Rarely 
a year passes without two or three being thus obtained, although it sometimes 
happens that none are caught for a couple of years.” The claim of this bird to 
be included in the British list is, therefore, considerably greater than that of the 
Scarlet Rose-finch, a bird generally to be obtained in Calcutta, and frequently 
included in consignments of cage-birds from India.* 
The male Serin, of which the wild Canary is considered to be a sub-species, 
has the forehead, a superciliary streak, the rump, and the under-parts, bright yellow; 
the under tail-coverts are, however, almost white, and the flanks streaked with 
brown; the remainder of the body, as well as the wing and tail-feathers, are deep 
olive-brown, mostly with yellowish margins; but the greater wing-coverts and 
secondaries are margined with sordid white; beak dark horn-brown, paler at the 
base of the lower mandible; feet pale brown; iris dark brown. The female is 
duller and more prominently streaked than the male, and in the winter both sexes 
are distinctly duller than in the summer. The young show very little yellow 
colouring in their plumage. 
As bearing upon the question whether or not the Serin is likely, from time 
to time, to visit England, the following note by Herr Gatke is of interest :—‘‘ Now, 
although one can hardly expect to hear of this bird building a nest in Heligoland, 
the occurrence here of five young grey individuals during the summer months at 
all events seems to admit of the conclusion that these birds may have been bred 
in the neighbourhood of the island, perhaps in Sleswick-Holstein. I do not, how- 
ever, share the view that breeding attempts of this kind, made in districts far 
distant from the regular home, justify one in assuming an extension of the breeding 
area.” It is conceivable, that birds bred far from their usual summer haunts, might 
~ It may be asked how these birds would be likely to escape. In 1896, a friend of mine, who has a 
collection of some five or six hundred foreign birds, had his aviaries broken into, a few birds stolen, and all the 
aviary doors left wide open: not a few interesting foreigners escaped, and were not recaptured by the owner. 
This is the second time that he has been plundered, yet he is but one among hundreds of aviculturists in 
Great Britain. 
