382 Mr. W. E. Brooks^s Stray 



that the red plumage is as much a winter plumage as any, inas- 

 mucli as it is assumed at the autumn moult by, I believe, young 

 birds of the year only. The great majority of the males were 

 in the grey-brown (or female) plumage, including the large 

 5*7 in. bird, before mentioned. As in the case of Cross- 

 bills, Pine-Grosbeaks, and other red-j)lumaged birds, the 

 line red colour appertains only to the young male, and, 

 once moulted, is never regained. The rump and under tail- 

 coverts are always boldly streaked. 



I frequently heard Redpoles flying by, in the fall, uttering 

 a different note from this species, and some of them aj)peared 

 to me decidedly larger than it. This year some settled in 

 my orchard ; and Allan procured a very fine rosy male on the 

 3rd of February, out of a mixed flock in which the ]\Iealy 

 Redpole was much the more numerous. We heard the call- 

 note of the second sj)ecies, and agreed that it was diff'erent 

 from that of the Mealy Redpole ; and the above example I 

 identified as L. ezilipes (Coues). It measured 5 '3 inches in 

 the flesh, so that it can hardly be said to be a larger bird than 

 L. linaria. Speaking of this species, Mr. Seebohm says : — 

 '' Some writers make a fourth species, L. exiUpes (Coues), 

 which may be said to be intermediate between the Arctic and 

 the Greenland forms. In the valley of the Petchora we 

 found both L. linaria (Linn.) and L. exUipes (Coues), and 

 came to the conclusion that the latter is nothing but the 

 fully adult winter plumage of the former " (' Siberia in 

 Europe,^ p. 51). 



Now why was such a conclusion arrived at ? Mr. A. O. 

 Hume and I came to the conclusion that the buff" plumage 

 of Aquila fulvescens (Gray and Hardwicke) was the young 

 plumage of Aquila clanga (Pallas) ; but Ave made a notable 

 blunder. I first jumped to the conclusion, I hardly know 

 why, and my friend coincided ! The two species were in 

 company, searching for frogs in a dried-up marsh. But a 

 rash conclusion should not be drawn because birds are in 

 company ; for how often have I seen Snow-Buntings mixed 

 with Redpoles. Even to oblige my friend, I can never con- 

 sent to the suppression of such a fine species of Linnet as 



