SISKIN 
109 
builds in a thornbush or hedge, or in ivy upon a 
tree-trunk. The nest is built like the Chaffinch's, 
of moss, wool, cobwebs, and similar soft materials, 
but is not decked with lichens on the outside ; it 
is also a little smaller, and often not quite so firmly 
built, but equally neat in shape. Five is the usual 
number of the eggs, which are bluish or greenish- 
white in ground-colour, marked, as a rule, with 
small spots and dashes of dark red-brown. This 
common variety is practically indistinguishable from 
the egg of the Linnet. Sometimes, however, they 
are almost pure white in ground-colour, sparingly 
marked with spots and stains of clear, medium 
brown, or bright rose-pink, like some varieties of 
the Greenfinch's. 
SISKIN. 
{Carduelis spinus,) 
Aberdevine. — This small Finch is mainly familiar 
in flocks in the winter-time, though it has been 
known to nest in more than one district of England 
where pine-woods are common, as well as in 
Scotland, more frequently. It is not at any time a 
very common or familiar visitor, its appearances in 
winter being irregular ; but it may be recognised 
without much difficulty by the conspicuously 
