THE FINCHES. 



233 



Acanthis linaria (Linn.) 

 REDPOLL. 



Popular synonyms. Common Redpoll; Dusky Redpoll; Snowbird; Redpoll Linnet. 



Fringilla linaria LINN, S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 182; eel. 12, i, 1766, 322. WILS. Am. Orn. iv, 1811, 

 41, pi. 30, fig. 4; ix. 1814, 126. NUTT. Man. i, 1832, 512. AUD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 523, pi. 

 375. 



Mgiothus linaria CAB. Mus. Hein. 1851, 161. BAIED, B. N. Am. 1858, 428; Cat. N. Am. B. 

 1859. No. 320. COUES, Key, 1872, 130; Check List, 1873, No. 146; 2d ed. 1882, No. 207; B. 

 N. W. 1874, 114. B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 1874, 493, pi. 22, figs. 3, 5. RIDGW. Norn. 

 N. Am. B. 1881, No. 179. 



Acanthis linaria BON. & SCHL. Monog. Lox. 1850, pi. 52. 

 Linaria minor Sw. & RICH. F. B. A. ii, 1831, 267. AUD. Synop. 1839, 114; B. Am. iii, 1841, 



122, pi. 179. 



jEgiothusfuscescens COUES, Proc. Phil. Ac. 1861, 222. 

 ^Egiothus linaria veiT.fuscescens COUES, Key, 1872, 131. 



HAB. Northern North America, (except Greenland) south, in winter, to about lat. 40 

 (occasionally farther) ; breeds chiefly, if not entirely, north of the United States. Inhabits, 

 also, northern portions of the Old World. 



SP. CHAE. Adults in sjtriinj inn? trinter. Ground color of the occiput, nape, scapulars, 

 and interscapulars, brownish white, each feather with medial streak of dusky brown ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts white, with the streaks in sharper contrast. Wings clear 

 brownish dusky, with two conspicuous white bands, formed by tips of middle and second- 

 ary coverts; tertials broadly, and secondaries narrowly, edged with white, this broader 

 on inner webs. A narrow frontal band (tinged with brownish), an obscure superciliary 

 stripe, and the lower parts in general, white; sides streaked with dusky, and lower tail- 

 coverts each with a medial streak of the same. On the forehead and vertex a somewhat 

 quadrate patch of intense carmine. Nasal plumules, lores, and a small, somewhat quad- 

 rate, gular spot, dark silky brown. Bill yellow, the culmen and gonys black. 



Male. Throat, jugulum, and breast, rosy carmine (extending upward over the malar 

 region, and backward over the sides almost to the flanks) ; rump tinged with the same. 



Female. No red except on the crown, where its tint is less intense; dusky gular spot 

 larger, extending farther on to the throat. 



Adult inbreeding (midsummer} plumage (="^E. fuscescens" COUES). The pattern 

 the same as above, but the dark tint intensified and spread so as to almost entirely 

 obliterate any lighter markings, except the streaks on the rump; the wing-bands, as well 

 as the dorsal streaks, obsolete; streaks on the sides broader; frontal band dusky, like the 

 occiput. Red tints slightly intensified. Bill wholly dusky. 



Male. Throat, jugulum, breast, and tinge on sides and rump, rosy carmine. 



Female. Without red on the breast. 



Young, first plurnaie. Whole head, neck, and breast streaked, and without trace of 

 red. 



Dimensions. Male. Wing. 2.80; tail, 2.30-2.35: bill, .35-.36X.20.-25; tarsus, .53-.S5; 

 middle toe, .30-.33. Female. W T ing, 2.70-2.80; tail, 2.30-2.35; bill, .32-.35X.23-.25; tarsus, 



The plumage of this species is quite different in summer and in 

 winter. In the latter season the plumage is softer and more lax, 

 and the markings better defined, though in autumn with a consid- 

 erable ochraceous suffusion. In spring the colors are purer, and the. 



