292 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



As in the case of the Grey Linnet, the cock Redpoll 

 has a rosy-tinted breast, and the birds have many 

 habits in common, but the difference between the 

 two species is none the less clearly marked. In 

 addition to their smaller size. Redpolls of both 

 sexes have a red cap, and may be distinguished 

 at once by the flecked brown of the back and 

 wings, the lighter under-surfaces and the black 

 throats. 



In its choice of a nesting site the Redpoll does 

 not confine itself to the commons, although its 

 nest is occasionally found in the whins. It con- 

 stantly selects hawthorns, alders and hazels, 

 especially those which overhang streams, and the 

 snug little feather-lined nest is generally placed 

 nearly at the extremity of the bough. These 

 gentle, confiding little birds are erratic in their 

 distribution in England. As a breeding species 

 they are never very abundant in any one locality, 

 and the vast flocks which are seen on the heaths 

 and commons in the autumn are doubtlessly drawn 

 from very wide areas. Redpolls are especially fond 

 of the tansy, and where these tall-growing yellow- 

 flowers abound, as on the banks of railway-cuttings 

 or the slopes of disused quarries, many hundreds 

 may be seen together flitting about the herbage or 

 hanging from the stems. 



At this season no bird falls a victim to the bird- 

 catcher more readily than the " chivy," as the bird 

 is called in Yorkshire from the resemblance of the 

 sound of the word to its call-note. Sometimes the 

 great clap-nets are employed as for the Grey 

 Linnets, when fifty to a hundred may be taken at 



