286 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



Some of the true denizens of these waste places arc, 

 however, never far absent. The Grey Linnet is the 

 most constant of any. Akhough in winter many 

 join the flocks of wandering finches which travel 

 far to feed on the stubbles, and even, in severe 

 weather, about the farmsteads, it is rarely indeed 

 that we cross the gorselands without a sight of the 

 white-lined wings, or at least without hearing the 

 wild call-notes as the birds flit from one whin-bush 

 to another. Now, when the gorse is at its best 

 numbers may be seen, and the song, clear and 

 sweet, and altogether unwarbler-like in character, 

 rings out from the higher sprays on every side. 



" I wad na gie the Lintie's sang, 

 Sae merry o'er the broomy lea, 

 For a' the notes that ever rang 

 Fra a' the harps o' minstrelsy. 



And certain is it that, backed by the distant murmur 

 of the sea, and accompanied by the chirping of 

 grasshoppers in the warm, dry grass, no other 

 voice so truly expresses the spirit of these wide open 

 spaces of cropped green turf and yellowing whin- 

 bushes as that of the Grey Linnet. 



The Linnet is not a very early breeder, and May 

 has sometimes already advanced before the eggs 

 are laid. The nest is in the densest part of the 

 gorse-bushes and is often difiicult to approach, 

 for the prickly spines are sharp as needles, but 

 its position may be approximately inferred from the 

 fact that the cock bird usually elects to sing on an 

 upper bough in its near neighbourhood. 



In captivity the Linnet is a sombre-hued bird, 

 for the brighter colours largely disappear on 



