SMALLER REDPOLL LINNET. 305 



the age of the individuals ; but in the wild state I have not 

 met with albinoes, or parti-coloured specimens. The appear- 

 ance of the bird in summer differs so much as to require a 

 separate description. 



Male in Summer. — The bill is greyish-brown above, pale 

 j^ellow beneath, with the tip dusky, the feet also as in winter. 

 The forehead, loral space, and throat, are black ; the crown 

 of the head crimson ; the hind part of the head, the neck, the 

 fore part of the back, and the scapulars, are blackish-brown, 

 the feathers with j^ale yellowish-brown edges ; the hind part 

 of the back, carmine ; the wings and tail dusky, with yellow- 

 ish-brown edges, and two transverse bands of the same. The 

 sides of the neck, its fore part, the breast, and flanks, carmine; 

 the middle of the breast, the abdomen, and the lower tail- 

 coverts white, tinged w4th rose-colour. 



Female ix Summer. — The female has the black of the fore- 

 head and throat brownish, with less red on the head, and 

 generally none on the lower parts or rump, which are nearly 

 as described in the winter plumage, but paler. 



Habits. — The Redpoll resembles the Siskin in its habits, as 

 w^ell as in shape, it being one of the species that forms the tran- 

 sition from Linaria to Carduelis. Its flight is peculiarly bound- 

 ing and buoyant, and its voice remarkably clear and loud. 

 When starting it emits a hurried chatter of short notes, and 

 as it proceeds on its flight utters a single note at intervals less 

 prolonged than those of our other Linnets. Its cry is so dif- 

 ferent from that of the Brown Linnet and Twite, being clearer 

 and sharper, that one who has attended to it can readily dis- 

 tinguish the species on wing. Although not abundant in any 

 part of the country, it forms large flocks in winter, and betakes 

 itself to the birch and alder woods, in procuring the seeds of 

 which the birds hang in all kinds of attitudes, like many other 

 small species that find their subsistence on trees, such as Tit- 

 mice and Gold-crests. I have also seen them in Auoust 



o 



scattered over a tract overgrown with thistles, the seeds of 



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