474 REV. n. A. MACPHERSON ON IRMilTS OF THE SERIN FINCH. 
hold in the district lay on the left hank of the Khine, at 
Mulhausen in Alsace. That great manufacturing centre straggles 
over many acres of level ground, hut a sharp rise occurs on the 
east side of the railway station. This is the favourite quarter of 
residents, and a large area is covered hy villas standing in their 
own walled gardens. As the ascent continues, the gardens become 
scarce or disappear ; their place is taken hy vineyards. Hanked on 
all sides by tall palisades, and planted at intervals with fruit trees. 
Finally, the higher ground is clothed with a magnificent beech- 
Avood, chiefiy tenanted hy Chaffinches and Carrion Crows, but 
resonant (in June) Avith the high-pitched shivering song of the 
AVood ATren (P. sihUatrix). 
No Serin Finches Avere detected in the forestry, but the 
gardens and vineyards immediately beneath proved to hold many ; 
and though the fences prohibited a search for nests, the height at 
Avhich the birds generally lleAv, sporting actively hitlier and thither 
in bright sunshine, rendered a study of their habits not impossible. 
'I'heir sprightly movements, singing on the Aving, recalled to the 
Avriter the habits of the Siskin as studied in Norway, but perhaps 
resembled more exactly those of the Lesser Redpoll. The peasants 
on the spot stated, Avhen questioned, that the Serins generally 
nested in fruit trees, but in the Mulhausen district fir trees 
Avere manifestly preferred to apple trees. One pair in particular 
received a careful scrutiny. After toying for some time about an 
orchard, they fiew together to a fir tree j thence the female 
slipped quietly aAvay, apparently to her nest. Her companion 
became Testless in solitude, and fidgeted anxiously along the entire 
length of a large bough, occasionally preening his feathers, but 
evidently waiting for his mate’s return. After a time he became 
more reconciled, and began to sing steadily. The song is most 
frequently uttered on the wing, and the paired birds Avere never 
far apart. Usually they fieAV in company. On this, as on 
previous occasions, the Avriter Avas baulked of the pleasure of 
examining a Serin’s nest, by the fact that the species constantly 
nested in private grounds, and Avas legally protected. 
A nest examined in the museum at Geneva Avas a small spherical 
structure of moss, not unlike that of the Goldfinch, and had been 
built in the support of a small fork, at the extremity of a long 
slender tree-branch. The eggs exhibited were of the usual type. 
