igo MEALY REDPOLL. 



for the sake of convenience, I treat the Mealy Redpolls under one 

 heading, and take our small, dark. Lesser Redpoll separately. 



The typical Mealy Redpoll is a common visitor to Shetland from 

 September onwards, while the line of its migration appears to be 

 principally along the east coast in Scotland and the north of 

 England, for the bird is rarer and of more uncertain occurrence on 

 the west side. South of Durham its visits become irregular ; in the 

 Eastern Counties it has occasionally been obtained in spring, and 

 exceptionally in summer ; and in some years large flocks have been 

 noticed down to the Channel, though in Devon and Cornwall it is 

 almost unknown. In Ireland it has been taken in Kildare and 

 Mayo ; while the Tearaght light has furnished several examples of 

 the subspecies Z. rostrata in various autumns, from 1889 to 1893. 



In Europe and Asia the Mealy Redpoll nests rather farther north 

 than the limits of birch-growth, but southward, it may be doubted 

 if it reaches below 58° N. lat. ; for the bird found breeding in 

 the mountain-regions of Central Europe is, probably, our Lesser Red- 

 poll. The Mealy Redpoll has been obtained on Kolguev Island 

 (Pearson), and on migration it is irregularly abundant down to the 

 Alps, but rare in the south of France, Italy, (ireece and Southern 

 Russia. As already stated, one or two races breed in Arctic 

 America, and a large form in Greenland, Iceland and Spitsbergen. 



The nest, neatly built of bents, lichens and shreds of bark, with 

 a lining of catkins, hair and feathers, is usually placed in the low 

 fork of a tree or a bush, and sometimes in a tuft of grass. The 5-6 

 eggs are greenish-blue, spotted with reddish-brown : measurements 

 •7 by '5 in. The young feed on insects and their larvre ; afterwards 

 on seeds, like the parents. 



The adult male in spring has the lores black ; forehead and part of 

 the crown blood-red ; upper parts dark brown, mottled and streaked 

 with greyish-white, especially on the rump, which is tinged with 

 pink ; tail-feathers dark brown, with pale edges ; chin black ; sides 

 of neck and breast carmine ; lower parts dull white, streaked with 

 dark brown on the flanks ; bill horn-colour, yellowish at the base ; 

 legs dark brown. Length 5'i in. ; wing 2*9 in. The female is 

 smaller, darker on the upper parts, and more streaked on the lower ; 

 with less red on the head and none on the breast. The young have 

 the upper feathers margined with buff and have no red on the fore- 

 head, but are otherwise like the female. After the autumn moult 

 the new feathers have broad yellowish-grey margins, which, in the 

 male, conceal the carmine, and the general appearance is very pale ; 

 whence the name of ' Mealy,' and, perhaps, of ' Stone-Redpoll.' 



