SISKIN. 
109 
The eggs are pale greenish white, spotted around the thicker 
end with purple, and a few brown dots. 
Incubation lasts fourteen days; the young are fledged in 
fifteen more, and are able to leave the nest at the end of the 
third week. 
Male; length, four inches and three quarters; bill, light 
grey above, and dull white below, the tip dusky; in summer 
it is orange brown: it is rather long and pointed, and much 
attenuated towards the tip, which is slightly curved down¬ 
wards—a sort of rudiment, as it were, of that of the Creeper; 
the upper mandible extends a little beyond the lower one. 
Iris, dusky brown: a yellow band extepds over and from it 
backwards, and in front of it, to the bill, is black. Head 
on the back and sides, yellowish green, streaked with black; 
crown, black; neck on the back and nape, yellowish green, 
streaked with black; in front, yellow. Chin and throat, 
black, when fully adult; breast, yellowish green, whitish at 
the lower part, and greyish white on the sides, each feather 
with a black central streak. Back above, yellowish green, 
tinged with grey, each feather having a dusky streak in its 
centre; below, yellow. 
; The wings, which extend to within half an inch of the 
end of the tail, expand to the width of nine inches; the first 
three quills are of nearly equal length and the longest in the 
wing, the first being rather the longest of the three; the 
fourth an eighth shorter than the third; greater wing coverts, 
yellow at the base, black at the tip; lesser wing coverts, 
black, greenish yellow at the end, forming a broad band of 
that colour across the wing. Primaries, dusky black, yellow 
at the base and on the outer edges; secondaries and ter- 
tiaries, dusky black, with olive-coloured edges. The tail, 
I which is slightly forked, is yellow at the base, black ao the 
end, the edges of the feathers narrowly edged with lighter 
colour; the two middle feathers brownish black; upper tail 
coverts, yellow, or yellowish brown; under tail coverts, greyish 
white, tinged with yellow, the shafts dark. Legs, toes, and 
claws, pale brown, with a reddish tinge. 
After the autumnal moult the yellow is less brilliant, and 
the black of the head is obscured with brown. 
Female; length, not quite four inches and a half. The bill 
is pale brown above and lighter beneath. The yellow streak 
over the eye is very pale. Head on the sides, pale yellowish 
brown; crown, neck on the back, and nape, light greyish 
