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ALLEN’S NATURALIST’S LIBRARY. 
and England, and in the other portions of the country it is de- 
cidedly local. In Ireland this is especially the case , it is not 
uncommon near Dublin, and has more recently been recorded 
from North Aran Island, co. Donegal. 
Range outside the British Islands.— In most parts of Europe, 
the Tree-Sparrow is a local species, as in Great Britain, but is 
extending its range northward in the western countries, having 
reached the Faeroes and settled there within the last twenty- 
five years, and it has now extended its range in Scandinavia 
beyond the Arctic Circle. In many other parts of Europe it 
is more abundant than the House-Sparrow, and its home 
extends throughout temperate and tropical Asia, along the line 
of the Himalayas to the Burmese countries and the Malayan 
Peninsula to Java, while to the northward the Tree-Sparrow is 
found throughout China to Manchuria and Japan. 
Habits. — A more elegant and lively bird than the House- 
Sparrow the present species has also a clearer and more musical 
note. It is also an inhabitant of the open country, avoiding 
the towns, where its congener is so much at home, though it 
occasionally builds its nests in barns and outhouses. A favourite 
nesting-place in this country is in the holes ot pollard willows, 
and it will even build in holes of walls or in wells. 
Nest Composed of straw, grasses, and rootlets, but not 
so rough or clumsy in construction as that of the Common 
Sparrow. The lining consists of wool, feathers, and sometimes 
a little hair, according to Mr. Seebohm. 
E Three to five in number, smaller than those of the 
House-Sparrow, but varying in markings and colour, as is the 
case with that species ; as a rule, however the tendency of the 
Tree Sparrow’s eggs is towards a darker colour than the House- 
Sparrow’s, and the majority of a series of clutches are more 
uniform. ’ Axis, o’7-o’8 ; diam., °' 55 -°' 3 - 
THE CANARIES. GENUS SERINUS. 
Straws, Koch, Syst. Baier, Zool., p 228 (1816). 
Type, S. serinus (Linn.). 
The members of this genus recall the Siskins in their mode 
of coloration, having a considerable amount of yellow and 
