280 
SISKIN. 
as a matter of course, has been handed down from 
one author to another. Temminck places it 
among his birds of Japan. 
In the male, the crown and throat are black, 
the feathers tipped with yellowish green. The 
upper parts, cheeks, sides of the neck, and breast, 
“ siskin green,” mixed with grayish green, and 
streaked along the shafts on the centre of the 
back with blackish green ; on the rump, cheeks, 
and breast, the plumage is tinted with primrose 
yellow. The wings are brownish black, the 
quills edged with yellowish green, and having on 
the base of the outer w r ebs a patch of yellow- 
ish white, forming a slanting and serrated bar. 
The coverts are broadly tipped with greenish 
white. The tail is brownish black, having the 
feathers at the base pale primrose yellow. On 
the belly the primrose yellow shades into pure 
white, slightly dashed with the former colour on 
the flanks, and having the feathers there, and on 
the under tail coverts, grayish black along the 
shafts. This is the plumage of the male in 
winter. In the summer or breeding state, the 
general tints are heightened in colour ; the black 
of the wings becomes deeper, and the feathers of 
the head and throat lose their pale tips. The 
female is without the black on the crown or 
throat, and the black of the wings and tail is 
more subdued. The upper parts are entirely of 
a grayish green, streaked along the centre with 
blackish gray, and the under parts are nearly pure 
white, tinted with primrose yellow on the breast. 
