5i6 LINNET 



a trace of them visible in autumn and winter ; but, beginning to 

 appear in spring, they reach their greatest brilliancy towards mid- 

 summer ; and it is also to be remarked that they are never assumed 

 by birds in confinement. The Linnet begins to breed in April, the 

 nest being generally placed in a bush at no great distance from the 

 ground. It is nearly always a neat structure composed of fine 

 twigs, roots, or bents, and lined with wool or hair. The eggs, often 

 six in number, are of a very pale blue marked with reddish or 

 pui'plish-brown. Two broods seem to be commonly brought off in 

 the course of the season, and towards the end of the summer the 

 birds — the young of course greatly preponderating in number — 

 collect in large flocks and move to the sea-coast, whence a large 

 proportion depart for more southern latitudes. Of these emigrants 

 some return the following spring, and are invariably recognizable 

 by the more advanced state of their plumage, the effect presumably 

 of having wintered in countries enjoying a brighter and hotter sun. 



Nearly allied to the foregoing species is the Twite, so named 

 from its ordinary call-note, or Mountain-Linnet, the Linota fiavi- 

 rostris, or L. montium of ornithologists, which can be at once dis- 

 tinguished by its yellow bill, longer tail, and reddish-tawny throat. 

 This bird never assumes any crimson on the crown or breast, but 

 the male has the rump at all times tinged more or less with that 

 colour. In the breeding-season it seems to affect exclusively hilly 

 and moorland districts from Herefordshire northward, in which it 

 partly or wholly replaces the common Linnet, but is very much 

 more local in its distribution, and, except in the British Islands 

 and some parts of Scandinavia, it only appears as an irregular 

 visitant in winter. At that season it may, however, be found in 

 large flocks in the low-lying countries, and as regards England even 

 on the sea-shore. In Asia it seems to be represented by a kindred 

 form, L. brevirostris. 



The Redpolls form a little group placed by many authorities 

 in the genus Linota, to which they are unquestionably allied, and, 

 as before stated {FiNCH, p. 251), the Linnets seem to be related 

 to the birds of the genus Leucosticie, the species of which, in 

 number uncertain, inhabit the northern parts of North -West 

 America and of Asia. There is need here to mention only two — 

 L. iephrocotis, which is generally of a chocolate colour, tinged on 

 some parts with pale crimson or pink, and has the cro^vn of the 

 head silvery-grey ; and L. aixtoa, which was formerly said to have 

 occurred in North America, but its proper home is in the Kurile 

 Islands or Kamchatka. This has no red in its plumage. The 

 birds of the genus Leucosticie seem to be more terrestrial in their 

 habit than those of Linota, perhaps from their having been chiefly 

 observed where trees are scarce ; but it is possible that the mutual 

 relationship of the two groups is more apparent than real. Allied 



