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BLACK-THEQATED SISKIN,
Chn'mwiitrh uftrka, LICHT.
,/rY experience with Siskins g-enerallj', has been so nupleasaiil;, that I cai
_LV L recommend them to aiiy who wish ta enjoy them for any length of tiuT^
They seem to me to be the most delicate of all the true Finches: even in the
case of our Britisli species, for one specimen that lias lii^ed three or four years, at
least a dozen have died after a twelvemonth of captivity. Of two American Siskins
(I believe Chuysmmlris YarnRi from Bahia and Peraambnco'l which I purchased at
iifteen shillings a head, one died in a week and the other in a fon^ght, after'
singing in so li\-ely and beautiful a manner, that one wishe-d them t« live for ever.
In tlie case of the present species,—I imported it in 1893 from the Argentines;
it arri\-ed in a puffy condition and died three days afterwards. A_s a set-off against
this frailty, it cannot be denied that some of these bi«ls are admixable singers,
almost attaining to the mu^al .skill of the Serins and distinctly exceJE^g that of
the Green Singing-Finch: the}- are moreover the most confiding and tamest of all
FriugiJUnrc.
The Black-Uiroated Siskin is a iigtive of Brazil and the Argentine Repuljlic
to Chili.
The male above is olive-yellowish, becoimng bright yellow on the hind part
of the back, upper tail coverts and base of tdi feathers; the reuiainittg portion of
the tail black; the wings, excepting at the base, black, the median and greater
coverts tipped -nith yellow; the flights with their bases and edges bri-ght yellow;
nape, sides of face and throat black; back and- sides of neck bright 3-elIow, forming
an imperfect collar; front of neck and body below yellow; beak and legs blackisli;
iris brown. Length 4j inches.
Female gre^-er above, but the hind part of back 3'ellower; tipper tail coverts
gre3'-greenish: tail feathers brownish, wrti less j'ellow at base; forehead sUgbidy
5-ellowish; median and greater wing-coverts tipped with gTeyisb white; the quills
less yellow at the base, tke secoKdarics edged \vith whitish towards the tip of the
BLACK-HEADED SISKIN d'.;
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