experience goes, it is very shy and difficult of approach
outside the town. During the fortnight I spent at Staufen
in Breisgau (Baden), in .June last [1875], I never got within
range of one outside the town, though on several occasions
I saw and heard it. In the town itself I several times saw
specimens; but as they doubtless had nests in the neighbourhood,
and as, besides, it would not well do to shoot in
the town, I did not obtain a specimen. It may easily be
recognized by its call-note and flight. The former somewhat
resembles that of the Canary, but may easily be distinguished
by any one who has heard it. Its song is poor,
and lacks both depth and melody, being merely a continuous
twittering warble, generally uttered, it would seem,
as the bird is seated on the topmost spray of some tree,
usually a fruit-tree. Its flight is exceedingly swift, and may
not inaptly be compared to that of a Sand-Martin, which it
far more nearly resembles than that of any other Finch. It
sometimes sings whilst on the wing; that is, it will fly up from
the spray on which it has been seated like a Tree-Pipit, and
will continue its song during the short time it is in the air.
“ It feeds chiefly on seeds of various kinds ; at least all
those I have at different times shot, and the contents of
whose stomachs I examined, had been feeding on these
alone—grass-seeds and those of the various wild plants and
weeds, chiefly such as are oily; and it appears always to shell
the seeds and discard the husks before swallowing them. It
seeks after food in fields, gardens, and especially in the vineyards,
in which last it is usually to be found.
“ The nest is a very neat, compact little structure, very
carefully made and neatly shaped. It is built of fine roots
and grass-bents, and neatly lined with feathers and horsehair.
The outer portion of the nest appears to be interwoven
with spiders’ webs ; and a few bits of lichen and grey
moss are affixed here and there. A nest in the possession
of Mr. Carl Sachse, taken near Frankfort, is built in the
fork between three upright small branches of a lilac tree,
and is constructed entirely of fine grass-stems and rootlets,
intermixed with cotton and woollen threads. These latter
are utilized more especially to bind the structure to the
branches, which is most effectually and strongly done, one of
the branches being encircled at least a dozen times with a
long piece of tolerably stout woollen thread. The lining
consists merely of somewhat finer grass-stems than those
used in the construction of the exterior portion.
The eggs, said to be four or five in number, measure from
•68 to *6 by '49 to *45 in., and are of a pale greenish-white,
or suffused with light reddish-brown so as to appear of a
yellowish cream-colour, on which are blotches, spots and
specks of a dark reddish-brown—sometimes nearly black.
This species is but rare in Belgium* and as yet does not
seem to have bred nearer to us-than Luxemburg. A single
example has been obtained in Heligoland and two in
Sleswick; but it is rarely if ever to be met with in North
Germany, and it does not become common till we ascend
the Rhine to Mainz. In that neighbourhood however and
around Frankfort-on-the-Maine, it is in summer pretty
plentiful. Passing over Thuringia and most part of
Saxony, where it does not seem to appear, it has of late
years shewn itself abundantly in Lusatia and Silesia.
Thence to the south-east it is common in Bohemia and
Galizia, but rare in Transsylvania ; nor is it very frequent
in Bulgaria, though it becomes more plentiful in Bessarabia
and Roumelia, and in Greece—where it is said >to he resident
__it ig common, as it also is in Asia Minor and Palestine
but in the last it is only found in winter and near the sea,
while a nearly allied species, S. aurifrons, takes its place as^ a
resident. It has, however, been observed in Sinai and in
Fgypt as far as Cairo. In North-Western Africa fiom
Tunis to Morocco, it is much more abundant, and at
Tangier immense flights cross the Strait of Gibraltar in
spring and autumn. Nevertheless a considerable number
* Temminck’s assertion as to its occurrence in Holland is probably (as Mr.
Labouchere suggests to the writer) explained by the fact that in bis time the
name of that country in common speech included what is now known as Belgium.
The bird which Faber killed at Husavik in Iceland and referred to this species,
was most likely a young Redpoll, yet there hare been ornithologists who recognized
in the specimen, which they never saw, a new species!