SISKIN. 97 



bird, lying dead upon the floor. The cause of his death 

 was entirely unknown, as no injury appeared about him. 

 The hen bird lived a considerable time after this event, 

 but our interest in her was lost ; and she had, besides, never 

 been so tame or interesting as her happy and affectionate 

 little mate. 



Since that time we have never succeeded in bringing 

 the Siskin to breed, but we have been so fortunate as to 

 take, on two different occasions, undoubted nests of the 

 species. The first we found on St. Anne's Hill, the beau- 

 tiful and well-known elevation that rises on the western 

 side of the town of Chertsey, in Surrey ; and the other 

 was taken in a wild straggling hedge in the open plain 

 bordering the Thames, at no great distance. In both cases 

 the parent-bird was distinctly seen upon the nest. The 

 nest on St. Anne's Hill was built in a furze-bush : it was 

 constructed, externally, of the rough, angular stems of galium, 

 and of the straggling roots and stems of spear-grass ; next 

 to these was a loose matting of fine fibrous roots, intermixed 

 with a little wool, and lined with cows-hair and the down 

 of rabbits. In the other nest, taken on the plain beside 

 the river, the external materials are the same ; but thistle- 

 down is used instead of wool, that being a rare production 

 in these lower grounds. This nest was in a whitethorn bush, 

 well concealed, and about five feet from the ground. The 

 eggs in both are pale greenish- white, spotted around the 

 zone with purple, and a few dark brown spots. 



This species is said, by Temminck, Bechstein, and other 

 authors, to build in fir-trees, placing its nest at the extremity 

 of the highest branches. This situation appears, however, 

 not always selected ; a nest found in Camperdown Woods, 

 and mentioned in Loudon's Magazine, by W. Gardiner, Esq., 

 of Dundee, was situated close to the trunk, in a branch of 

 a spruce-fir, and only six feet from the ground : the nests 



VOL. III. H 



