SERINUS HORTULANUS.

Serin Finch.

Fringilla serinus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 320.

Serinus meridionalis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 255.

Pyrrhula (Dryospiza) serinus, Keys. et Blas. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 41.
Serinus flavescens, Gould, Birds of Eur., vol. iii. pl. 195.

Pyrrhula serinus, Degl.

Dryospiza serinus, Cab. in Ersch und Gruber’s Ency., p. 217.
Serinus islandicus, Bonap.

—— hortulanus, Koch, Syst. Baier. Zool., p. 229.

So many ze Swapces of the occurrence of the Serin Finch in England have now been recorded in ‘ The Ibis,’
the ‘ Zoologist,’ and other journals, that I cannot refrain from including it among our accidental visitors.
It is not a regular migrant; yet I suspect that its visits to the southern parts of our island have been far
more frequent than is generally imagined, but that it had previously escaped detection, or been mistaken
for its near ally the Siskin, which it greatly resembles, especially when seen among trees.

The first notice of its occurrence in England was forwarded to the ‘ Zoologist,’ in 1860, by Mr. Bond,
who states that it was caught at Brighton, in a clap-net, on the 20th of June, 1859. In some notes kindly
communicated to me by this gentleman, he says :—‘ I saw another fine male, which had been captured near
London, in the autumn of the same year. 1 also heard of two others having been taken near London.”
In ‘ The Ibis’ for 1861, Mr: George Dawson Rowley mentions that three specimens had been caught near
Brighton, and cast aside from ignorance of their value, the bird having been previously supposed to bea
mule of some kind escaped from confinement. In ‘The Ibis’ for 1866, this gentleman records another
example, which had been sent to Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton, to be mounted, by Mr. Henry Byne, who, in
reply to some inquiries respecting it; stated that it was killed in the last week of January, 1866, by William
Gorett, Esq., in a small garden surrounded by trees, in Bridge Street, North Town, Taunton. Mr. Byne, in
whose possession this specimen remains, kindly sent it up for my inspection ; and I can therefore testify that
+t isa veritable Seri Finch. In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1869 is a notice copied from the ‘ Field,’ that “ ‘ very
fine example of this rare English visitant was shot at Worthing, on the 4th of May” of that year; and in
> for 1870 Mr. Bond says:—‘I have seen a fine specimen, killed in April 1869. There

the ‘ Zoologist
aken in this country that I think we should consider it a British bird.”

have now been so many examples t

Those who may wish to become minutely acquainted with the habits and economy of this charming little
songster, must refer to the works of the various Continental ornithologists ; but as these are not always
accessible, I cannot perhaps do better than transcribe, nearly in his own words, the interesting account

(derived from these and other sources) published by my friend Dr. Bree in his ‘History of the Birds of

Europe not observed in the British Isles.’
The Serin Finch is found plentifully in Spain, the south of France, in Italy, and the neighbouring part of

the north of France, and in Holland, more rarely in the south and south-

Switzerland, in Central Germany,
country. According to Faber, it has been killed

west of Germany, but not in the northern part of that
between 66° and 67° N. lat. It has been found in the Hartz Mountains, and is often seen in Thuringia. It

‘san autumu visitor at Malta, is common in Sicily, and very numerous in Smyrna. It is said to be plentiful

in the neighbourhood of Heidelberg and Offenbach, but to be rare in the intermediate country. — It is very
common in Greece, is included among the birds of Algeria, and is stated to be numerous about the olive-

groves of Sousa, in the neighbourhood of Tunis, but rare

the Eastern Atlas.
“The Serin Finch is generally a migratory bird,
and returning the following March; but in the mild climate

in the more elevated and mountainous parts of

quitting its summer- and breeding-ground in October,
of the Rhine it is said to remain all the year

round.

“Tt lives most frequently in fruit-gardens, orchards or ave
and alders, on the banks of brooks
it may be, it makes itself known by its restless
tree-tops, from which it often flies down

nues of walnut- or nut-trees, and vineyards,
and loves to dwell among willows and rivers as well as in garden-trees,
in the middle of villages or near buildings.
habits, and by its custom of always singing on the summ
In autumn it is more retiring,
und, never very far from trees
from branch to branch very much

Wherever
it of the
but remains long on the thick tree-tops.

to the roofs of buildings.
and bushes, and still less in

“Tt seeks its food principally on the gro
the open fields. In its movements it is live

ly and active, springing
after the manner of the Siskin and Common Linnet, with which

it willingly associates, particularly