THE CITRIL FINCH Chrysomitris citrinella (Linnæus) The Citril Finch inhabits the mountainous regions of Central and Southern Europe, migrating southwards in winter. A specimen was taken alive in January 1904 near Yarmouth. The nape and sides of the neck are greyish; back dull green with dusky streaks; wings and tail black; the whole of the rest of the plumage yellowish green. The female is rather duller. Length 4·8 in.; wing 3 in. THE SERIN Serinus hortulanus, K. L. Koch Breeding throughout the greater part of Central and Eastern Europe, there is no great improbability that some, at all events, of the few examples of this species that have been obtained in England are genuine stragglers and not birds that have escaped from captivity. They have mostly occurred on our southern or eastern coasts, with the single exception of one taken near Dublin. The forehead, rump, throat, and breast are yellow; upper parts and flanks olive streaked with brown; belly white. The female and young only differ from the male in being duller, and in winter both sexes exhibit far less yellow. Length 4·5 in.; wing 2·7 in. THE HOUSE-SPARROW Passer domesticus (Linnæus) Noisy, quarrelsome, and vicious, will perhaps sum up the character of this species. Cunning, crafty, hardy, and omnivorous, he is always literally in clover, and under such circumstances is it to be wondered at that his numbers have increased so as to be beyond all limits? Wherever man settles, there, sooner or later, will he make his appearance, sitting on the roof or in the shrubbery, and uttering, especially in the mornings, his monotonous and impertinent chirp. In spring he pulls up the crocuses, later he turns his attention to young and succulent plants just forcing their way above the ground, or if a new-sown lawn be the object of one’s solicitude he will make it his business to see that the hoped-for grass-plot remains a barren tableland. As summer comes on, the drain-pipes are blocked by his untidy nest—a mere heap of straw and hay warmly lined with feathers. If a tree or the ivy against the house be chosen for a site, the nest is better made, and is in fact a substantial dome-built structure with the entrance at the side, but its position is readily betrayed by long untidy bits of straw left trailing outside. The eggs are five or six in number and bluish white spotted and blotched with ash brown. By the end of summer he will have reared two broods of five or six youngsters each, and for a time our gardens are allowed a brief respite, while old and young gather in immense flocks in the harvest-fields, and then following the grain they spend some weeks round the freshly-made stacks in the farm-yard. As winter comes on they return once more to towns and gardens, where, by assuming a cold and starved appearance, they beg and