460 ON THE MEALY LINNET. 



but much more rarely, has the crown and breast of the same hue, in which state 

 I possess a remarkably fine specimen, killed in the height of the breeding season ; 

 and that the Redpole Linnets, also somewhat less unfrequently than the last, 

 exhibit a sort of Salmon-coloured tint on the corresponding parts, which I deem 

 to be analogous. The genus Corythus apparently accords exactly with the Cross- 

 bills in all that relates to plumage ; and it is most probable that the Erytkro- 

 spizce are occasionally subject to a like variance : though in no instance, not even 

 in the Crossbills, am I disposed to consider such as a normal state of plumage 

 proper to any particular age. In captivity, that portion of the coronal and breast 

 feathers of the Song Linnet which should become red in summer, is developed of 

 a faintly shining dusky-brown, which undergoes not even the slightest seasonal 

 change ; and the terminal margins to the feathers, which in the wild state dis- 

 appear coincidently with the alteration of colour, are retained permanently ; yet 

 this bird propagates freely in confinement, and manifests no sign whatever of phy- 

 sical debility. 



The above digression might seem a little out of place, did not the tracing of 

 the affinities of species constitute a highly interesting portion of their history, 

 and the capability of being followed into such details affords a sure proof that the 

 assumed relationship is not arbitrarily assigned. I am unaware that an}'- writer 

 has before insisted on the close proximity of the Siskins and Redpoles to the 

 Crossbills ; and perhaps it is necessary to know them well in their living state to 

 be enabled to appreciate the full amount of their mutual agreements. Even in 

 the dead Crossbill, however, conceal the head, and the dissimilarity is reduced to 

 comparative robustness ; and its extraordinary beak is merely that of a Siskin, 

 still more elongated, and anomalously curved ; its peculiar functions of course 

 necessitating the relatively superior size of the head, to furnish attachment to 

 the very powerful muscles which work the mandibles. Still it is in the living 

 birds, and particularly as observed in a captive state, when their manners can 

 be leisurely examined, that the affinity here intimated is most obviously mani- 

 fested ; and it is impossible to witness a Crossbill delivering its squeaking song, 

 and uttering its loud call-notes, analogous to those of a Goldfinch, and accompa- 

 nied with the same peculiar swing of the body, without being instantly struck 

 with the resemblance ; moreover, all these birds are in confinement perpetually 

 clambering over the wires of their cage, and seizing them with the bill as they 

 creep along, which is only the more noticeable in the Crossbill from the singular 

 form of its mandibles, which enables it to hold in the manner of a Parrot, as has 

 often been remarked ; they are alike familiar, very docile in disposition, and 

 in the wild state are usually engaged so earnestly in picking forth their similar 

 food; as not only to allow of a very close approach, but to suffer themselves to 

 be taken without difficulty with a bird-limed switch ; their constrained attitudes 



