A List of the Birds of the Hudson Highlands^ ivith 

 Annotations, 



By Edgar A. Mearns. 



[Continued from page 204, Vol. XI.] 



72. ^giothus linaria {Linne). Red-poll Linnet; Lesser 

 Red-poll. An occasional winter visitant; sometimes very abundant. 



In 1874, the Lesser Red-polls appeared in flocks about the first of 

 December, and were very abundant until April. For some time after 

 their first appearance, very few adults were seen, nearly all being 

 young birds ; but soon old males with rosy breasts and ruby crowns 

 began to come in immense flights, till the swamps of birch-trees 

 which they inhabited, and upon whose seeds they fed, were absolutely 

 swarming with them. So great were their numbers that the supply 

 of birch seeds soon gave out, and then they scattered over the entire 

 region, feeding largely upon seeds of the alder, and of various weeds. 

 During the month of March, the Red-polls far exceeded in numbers 

 the aggregate of any single species that I have ever seen. They were 

 very tame, feeding close to the roadsides and in yards about houses ; 

 and, go where one would, they were always found in abundance. 

 They were in full soug during the last month of their stay, and the 

 males were in particularly handsome plumage. Their notes resemble 

 those of the American Goldfinch {Chrysomitris tristis) ; but their 

 flight is swifter, and less undulating. They are easily domesticated, 

 and make nice pets. 



Mr. William C. Osborn shot a female, on November 9, 1878, near 

 Garrisons ; it was feeding in company with the Tit-lark (Anthus ludo- 

 vicianus), in a weedy field near the Indian Brook. 



I saw a single Red-poll in a birch-tree in the Central Park, N. Y., 

 on December 20, 1878. During the last week in December and the 

 first day of January (1878-79), they were quite numerous all through 

 the Highlands. Nearly all of the specimens shot were young males, 

 though one or two adult males and females were secured. Dr. Fisher, 

 on the other hand, found only females, at the same time, at Sing Sing, 

 N. Y. On February 8, 1879, Dr. Clinton L. Bagg found a number of 

 Red-polls in some weedy fields on Ward's Island, N. Y. 



Dimensions. — Average measurements of fifty-seven specimens: — 

 length, 5-32; stretch, 8-68 ; wing, 2-80; tail, 2-32; culmen, -36; tarsus, 

 •56 : middle toe, -36 ; its claw, -23. 



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