British Birds VOLUME 75 NUMBER 12 DECEMBER 1982

Identifying Serins D.J. Holman andS. C. Madge

rom descriptions submitted to the Rarities Committee and some Fpersonal experience, it has become apparent that some records of Serins Serinus serinus have referred to escaped cagebirds of other Serinus species, and even to Siskins Carduelis spinus. The purpose of this short paper is to draw attention to the problem and to amplify the specific characters of Serin against those of some of the potentially confusable species. It is beyond the scope of this paper to draw attention to all of the possible pitfall species: there are some 35 species in the genus Serinus, admittedly not all of which could be confused with Serin, and several species of the Neotropical genus Sicalis, two of which resemble Serin in plumage pattern.

Specific identification as Serin A bird may be safely identified as Serin by a combination of features: /. Appearance of small, dumpy finch with short bill and 'squat face' Z Short and markedly cleft tail, lacking yellow bases to outer feathers 3. Brownish wings with dark feather centres and pale huffish tips to median and greater coverts, forming one or two wing-bars, and narrow pale edges to tertials in fresh plumage 4. Conspicuous clear bright yellow rump in all plumages (except juvenile, which has streaked rump lacking yellow; one of us (SCM) has seen such a juvenile as late as mid November in European Turkey) 5. Underparts streaked, at least alongflanks, often heavily. Yellow not always present on underparts: if present, restricted to face and breast, with remainder whitish 6. Calls and song very useful, but obviously transcription always subjective; typical flight call is rather dry, rattling 'trillililit', and song is high, hissing, jingling, reminiscent in quality of songs of both Goldcrest Regulus regulus and Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra. Other calls may be heard, however, and were discussed by Taylor (1980)

[Brit. Birds 75: ">47-55:t. December 198a] 547 548 Identifying Serins

Fig. 1. Adult males of (a) Serin Serinus serinus, (b) Yellow-fronted Canary S. mozambicus, (c) Yellow-rumped Canary S. atrogularis, (d) Canary S. canaria and (e) juvenile Siskin Carduelis spinus (sketches by P. R. Colston) Principal confusion species The problem of escaped cage-bird species showing basic plumage features of Serin is rather complex. Perhaps the most frequent escapes are Yellow- fronted Canary S. mozambicus and Canary S. canaria, but other species may be involved in some of the claimed Serins which have been reviewed by the Rarities Committee. SISKIN Carduelis spinus (plates 218 & 219) Although adult male Siskins give no real problems, females and juveniles are considerably drabber and more streaked. Singles discovered feeding among parties of other finches, as often happens at coastal migration watch points or in gardens, may mislead the unwary. In all plumages, however, Siskins have yellow bases to the outer tail feathers, blacker wing-coverts, with prominent yellow bars, and a longer, slimmer bill. Most Siskin calls Identifying Serins 549

218. Siskin Carduelis spinus, Suffolk, March 1982 (J. D. Bakewell)

219. Siskin Carduelis spinus, Netherlands, December 1970 (Hans Schouten) are also very different from those of Serin, particularly the familiar, plaintive 'soooeee' uttered by flying Siskins.

CANARY Serinus canaria Escaped Canaries, in plumages resembling the original wild type, cause perhaps the greatest confusion. Some can closely resemble Serin in plumage, but the Canary is longer-tailed, larger, with a relatively pinker bill, and generally has a more greyish caste to its plumage. The relatively unstreaked yellow of the underparts of the adult male has a greenish tinge and continues farther down onto belly or undertail-coverts, and is not so well-defined as on male Serins. The yellow of the rump is duller and 550 Identifying Serins

220. Female Serin Serinus serinus at nest, Portugal, June 1968 (R. G. Carlson)

221. Female Serin Serinus serinus at nest, Portugal, June 1968 (R. G. Carlson) greener, not so well-defined as on Serin, and the fluty, twittering, rich warbling song is totally different.

YELLOW-FRONTED CANARY Or GREEN SINGING FINCH S. mOZOmbicUS (platCS 222 & 223) This common cage-bird frequently escapes. Attention was originally drawn Identifying Serins 551

222. Female Yellow-fronted Canary Serinus mozambicus, Netherlands, ()etober 1978 (FredHess)

223. Female Yellow-fronted Canary Serinus mozambicus, Netherlands, October 1978 {FredHess) to the possible confusion of this species with Serin by Goodwin (1956), but the problem still persists. It is a little larger than Serin, with a pale-tipped, square-ended tail (although tail can appear slightly notched when tightly closed). Males have the underparts unstreaked greenish-yellow down to undertail-coverts and a prominent head pattern, with yellow forehead and supercilium and dusky eye-stripe and moustachial stripe. Upperparts are relatively plain and only weakly streaked, with an ill-defined yellowish 552 Identifying Serins

224. Female Serin Serinus serinus at nest, Portugal, June 1968 (R. G. Carlson) rump. Females are similar, but duller, and juveniles have weakly streaked underparts; the weak streaking, dull rump and square-ended tail are, however, still obvious features. The song is short and melodious, almost Canary-like, and the calls have been described as a melodious 'tseeu' (McLaughlin & Liversidge 1978) or a single or double 'tssp' (Williams 1980).

YELLOW-RUMPED CANARY or SEEDEATER S. atrogularis This frequently imported cage-bird is also known as the Black-throated Canary. It is dull grey-brown and whitish, with a clear yellow rump, the brown upperparts being well-streaked whereas the whitish underparts are prominently streaked only on the flanks of young birds. In northern races, the throat is mottled with dusky. This species is further distinguished from Serin by its rather larger size, more square-ended and pale-tipped tail, larger bill, and voice, the calls and song being reminiscent of the Yellow- fronted Canary.

OTHER SPECIES Other Serinus similar to mozambicus which are imported include the Yellow Canary S. flaviventris, which is larger, with an even duller, greenish rump and cleft tail; Yellow-crowned Canary S. canicollis, which also has a cleft tail, but has golden-yellow crown, throat and breast, greenish rump, yellow Identifying Serins 553 wing-bars and streaked upperparts; and the White-bellied Canary S, dorso- striatus, which is larger than mozambicus, with cleft tail, streaked upperparts and weakly streaked flanks, yellow throat and breast, and whitish belly and flanks. Females of all these species have hardly any yellow on rump, except dorsostriatus, which has yellowish on lower rump, but this species is a little larger than Serin, with a relatively longer tail and less streaked underparts.

STRIPE-TAILED YELLOW-FINCH Sicalis citrina The Neotropical genus Sicalis has two species which superficially resemble Serin in plumage and size, others of the genus being larger or sufficiently different to cause little confusion. S. citrina, also known as Citrine Yellow- finch, has a slimmer bill than Serin, with tail only slightly notched and white on inner web of outermost tail feathers, best seen when bird is alighting with spread tail or on perched individual from below. The rump is yellowish-green and hardly bright enough to recall Serin, but the upperparts are streaked, except on the head, and the unstreaked underparts are yellow to the undertail-coverts. Females are streaked above, but, again, the underparts are yellowish to the tail.

GRASSLAND YELLOW-FINCH S. luteola This second Sicalis is similar in structure and size to the last species, and also has hardly any yellowish on rump. It is distinguished from citrina by the lack of white in the tail, and streaked crown as well as upperparts, and from Serin most obviously by unstreaked underparts and, on females, by brownish flanks and breast.

Acknowledgments We are particularly grateful for the advice given by Tim Inskipp when commenting on a draft of this paper, and to P. R. Colston for providing the illustrations. Thanks are also extended to the staffat the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), Tring, for allowing access to skins.

Summary The identification features of Serin Serinus serinus are emphasised and the pitfalls of confusion of this species in Britain with escaped cage-bird species are amplified. The identification of some of these species is compared with Serin, which may be identified safely by a combination of voice, structure (especially presence of cleft tail), amount of streaking in plumage above and below, extent of yellow on underparts, lack of yellow in tail and prominence of yellow rump.

References GOODWIN, D. 1956. The problems of birds escaping from captivity. Brit. Birds 69: 345. MCLACHLAN, G. R., & LIVERSIDGE, R. 1978. Roberts Birds of South Africa. Cape Town. MACKWORTH-PRAED, C. W., & GRANT, C. H. B. 1960. African Handbook ojBirds, Series I, Volume 2: Birds of Eastern and North Eastern Ajrica. London. DE SCHAUENSEE, R. M., & PHELPS, W. H. 1978. A Guide to the Birds oj Venezuela. New Jersey. TAYLOR, D. W. 1980. Call-notes of Serin. Brit. Birds 73: 39. WILLIAMS, J. G. 1980. A Field Guide to the Birds oj East Ajrica. London.

D.J. Holman, 9 Salisbury Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 ITU S. C. Madge, 2 Church Row, Sheviock, Torpoint, Cornwall PLll 3EH