“ Of an olive-green above, deeply tinted in some parts with black and in others lightened by yellow, and beneath of a yellowish-white again marked with black, the male of this species has at least a becoming if not a brilliant garb, and possesses a song that is not unmelodious, though the resemblance of some of its notes to the running-down of a piece of clockwork is more remarkable than pleasing. ”

“ The hen is still more soberly attired; but it is perhaps the siskin's disposition to familiarity that makes it so favourite a captive, and, though as a cage-bird it is not ordinarily long-lived, it readily adapts itself to the loss of liberty. Moreover, if anything like the needful accommodation be afforded, it will build a nest and therein lay its eggs; but it rarely succeeds in bringing up its young in confinement. As a wild bird it breeds constantly, though locally, throughout the greater part of Scotland, and has frequently done so in England, but more rarely in Ireland. ”

“ The plants thrive on arid rocky land, growing, for instance, on the Florida Keys upon the almost naked coral rock. Their northern limit of cultivation is determined by frost, which the plants will not stand; in Florida this is represented by the line of 27° N. An inferior fibre is obtained from the leaves of another species, Agave decipiens, which is found wild along the coasts and keys of Florida. ”