182 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



indistinguishable from the call-notes of those birds. Their 

 song and their twitters, though distinct from those of the 

 Goldfinch, are 3^et much like them, but their twitters, most 

 often uttered as the3^ fly, are much louder and less musical. 

 They have also a A'ery characteristic note, resembling the word 

 wee, uttered in a peculiar tone with a rising inflection, and, 

 moreover, if I remember correctly- , a loud and rather unmusical 

 trill. 



V. ^GIOTHUS 



(A) LiNARius. '"'■Red-poll." Red-poll Linnet. Lesser '■'■ Red- 

 poll:' 



(Another irregular visitant to New England, in the winter- 

 season only, being in some j^ears very common and in others 

 altogether absent, at least in Massachusetts.) 



(a). About 5^ inches long. Upper parts, flaxen, dark- 

 streaked. Beneath, whitish, more or less dusky-streaked. 

 Wings and tail dusky, with white edgings ; the former with two 

 narrow whitish bars. Croivn carmine; "rump white or rosy, 

 always streaked with dusky." In the mature ^ the breast is 

 bright rosy, and the under tail-coverts paler and streaked. 



[Dr. Coues has endeavored to establish one or two varie- 

 ties of this species, which it is perhaps necessary to accept. 

 Thc}^ are var. fucescens, Dusky Red-poll, a darker form ; with 

 "rump scarcely lighter," and "sides heavily streaked," which 

 Dr. Coues supposes may occur from the wearing of the feathers, 

 and VAK. exihpes, American Mealy Red-jjoll, with flaxen paled 

 to whitish, and rump unstreaked in adults, "representing," 

 says Dr. Coues, "the true Mealy Redpoll, A. canescens, of 

 Greenland."] 



(6). The "Red-polls" breed in Arctic Countries on the 

 ground, and lay four or five eggs, which are light greenish-blue, 

 with a few brown spots, and which average about 'Go X '50 

 of an inch. 



(c). The "Red-polls" are occasionally the most abundant 

 of our winter-birds, but, on the other hand, several successive 

 winters often pass, without their occurrence in Massachusetts. 



