SERIN FINCH. 103 



Serin Finch, F. serinus, I found that some Avintered 

 in Provence. I heard the song two or three times in 

 December, and obtained a specimen in January. They 

 begin to sing again about the middle of February. 

 By the middle of March their numbers had greatly 

 increased by arrivals, and they were extremely abundant 

 all along the edges of the pine woods, with which all 

 the higher ground of the country is covered. They 

 evidently frequented the borders of cultivated ground 

 more than the interior of the wood. The males were 

 then in full song. From the middle of March the 

 numbers gradually lessened till there were only some 

 pairs left here and there breeding. 



"They build chiefly in gardens, more so than in 

 pine woods. The nest is always on a pine or cedar, 

 from six to sixteen feet from the ground. On the 

 14th. of April I saw some young Serins out of the 

 nest, but they could not fly; and on the 26th. I took 

 a nest containing only two fresh eggs. On my way 

 home, I stayed some days at Fontainebleau. I cer- 

 tainly did not hear these birds there, though the 

 gardens round the palace seemed suitable for them, and 

 I was shewn the skin of one said to have been ob- 

 tained there. The Serin Finch is not found in 

 Madeira. I have seen it at Cintra, near Lisbon, in 

 June, but they are never numerous there then." 



In Badeker's work upon European eggs, I find the 

 following remarks about this bird by Brehm: — "The 

 Serin Finch inhabits the south of Europe, Asia Minor, 

 and North Africa. In Germany it removes in a 

 remarkable manner towards the north. I saAV it at 

 Nuremberg in 1130, aucl for three years at Jena and 

 Dresden. It comes into the south of Germany during 

 the first fortnight in April. The half-bowl-formed 



