94 FRINGILLIDiE. 



trate as far southward as Italy, where they are called " Lu- 

 cAerzwa." They are not mentioned in Mr. Drummond 1 s 

 list of the birds of Crete ; and, according to that gentleman, 

 are not known in Albania, or any of the adjacent islands — 

 one specimen only having been shot by him in Corfu, which 

 was supposed to have escaped from a cage. This bird ap- 

 pears to have an extensive range eastward, being found, ac- 

 cording to Temminck, in Japan. 



The Siskin is with us also a migratory bird, and rather 

 partial and uncertain in the times of its appearance. In 

 Surrey it is popularly believed to appear only once in seven 

 years ; this is, however, a little variation from the fact, but 

 as its arrival among us is hastened or retarded by the state of 

 the temperature and other causes, it is generally very irregu- 

 lar. Their time of arrival in Scotland is frequently as early 

 as October, and in England they sometimes appear about the 

 same time. 



The winter manners of the Siskin are accurately described 

 by A. Jerdan, Esq. in the Zoologist, who says, " About 

 the beginning of December last, I observed a flock of Siskins, 

 consisting of about sixty individuals. They frequented some 

 alder- trees by the side of the Jed, on the seeds of which 

 they seemed principally to subsist. They were not at all shy, 

 but, with due precaution, would allow me to approach, and 

 stand under the tree on which they were feeding. It was a 

 pretty sight to see them all busily engaged in extracting their 

 food from the catkins, every bird quietly attending to its own 

 employment, and in nowise interfering with its neighbours. 

 The various attitudes into which they would throw them- 

 selves, in order the more readily to obtain the seeds, were 

 also exceedingly pleasing and graceful. When disturbed, 

 they all took wing, and, uttering a somewhat harsh call- 

 note, circled round in the vicinity for a minute or two, and 

 then alighted on some other tree. Once when I had alarmed 



