198 
PASSERINE. CARDUELIS. LINOTA. 
of moss^ lichens, grass, and other materials, with a lining of I 
seed-down or other delicate filaments. The eggs, about five, 
are nine-twelfths in length, six and a half twelfths in breadth, > 
bluish-white, or pale, greyish-blue, marked with a few spots | 
of greyish-purple and brown. 
Goldfinch. Goldspink. Goldie. | 
Fringilla Carduelis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 118. — Fringilla car- 
duelis, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. i. 376. — Carduelis elegans, j 
Ked-fronted Thistlefinch, or Goldfinch, MacGillivray, Brit. 
Birds, i. 393. [ 
123. Carduelis Spinus. Black-Headed Thistlefinch, 
OR Siskin. ; 
Male with the upper part of the head and throat black ; 
back greenish-grey ; lower parts yellow ; sides white, marked i 
with black streaks ; quills and larger coverts black ; basal , 
part and outer edges of quills, and tips of secondary coverts 
yellow ; tail yellow, black at the end. Female with the up- j; 
per parts greenish-grey, streaked with black ; lower parts I 
whitish, variegated with narrow black spots. , 
Male, 9, 2^®^, Female, 4j^, 8^. j 
The Siskin appears in autumn and winter in large flocks, ; 
feeding on the seeds of thistles and other Composite, as well ' 
as on those of the birch and alder, which it extracts from the : 
cones. When engaged in this manner, it clings to the twigs 
in all sorts of attitudes, and is commonly so intent on its oc- 
cupation as to allow a person to approach unnoticed. It has 
of late years been found breeding in various parts of Scot- 
land and England ; and it is probable that most, if not all, of 
the individuals seen in this country in the winter months are 
indigenous. i 
Aberdevine. 
Fringilla Spinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 332. — ^Fringilla spinus, 
Temm. Man. d’Ornith. i. 371. — Carduelis Spinus, Black-head- 
ed Thistlefinch or Siskin, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 400. 
GENUS LXII. LINOTA. LINNET. 
Bill short, straight, conical, nearly as broad as high at the 
base, compressed toward the end, acute ; upper mandible with 
the dorsal line nearly straight, the ridge broad and rounded, 
the sides rounded, the edges inflected, with the notch obso- 
lete ; lower mandible with the angle semicircular, the dorsal 
