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heard frequently as it flics or immediat('ly after 
settling. The song of the male is variously described. 
Bechstein compares it to that of the Canary bird, but 
says it is not so shrill — something between a Canary 
bird and Tree Pipit. Schinz compares it to the song 
of the Siskin. It is really a loud, clear, pleasant song, 
which may be constantly heard at the breeding-season, 
from March to September. The female also sings a 
little, but not so loud as the male. 
Many agreeable qualities combine to make the male 
Citril Finch a favourite cage-bird, and it is kept by 
amateurs in great numbers. It becomes domesticated 
quickly, is easily tamed, and not difficult to keep 
even for a long time. It feeds principally on the seeds 
of firs or pines, and on those of many alpine plants, 
and also destroys buds and blossoms, though probably 
it docs this, like the Goldfinch, in search of insect 
larvee. In confinement it is fed, like other Finches, 
on poppy or hemp seed, but with the last it gets too 
fat, and it must not consequently be made its principal 
food. 
It nests in the mountains of the countries above 
named, in the Tyrol, and in many places in Switzer- 
land on the southern Alpine chain. The nest is 
sometimes placed in the thick stumpy alpine firs or 
other 2:)ine trees, sometimes under the roofs of the 
herdsmen’s cottages. It is cup-shaped, and very well 
and skilfully woven together. It is made of dry grass, 
with moss and twigs more or less intertwined, is 
tolerably smooth on the outside, and very beautifully 
lined with many hairs of various animals, small feathers, 
and husks of the poppy. 
The eggs are four or five in number, and in form 
and colour very similar to those of the Goldfinch. 
