The Lesser Redpoll 



77 



feathered life, that the bird-catcher gathers iu his harvest, and the markets are 

 gdutted throughout Europe. 



R 



I mux 



-FRIXGILLID.E. 



Subfamily— FR I N(ULLL\L-E. 



The LEvSser Redpoll. 



.■{ciDilhis ra/csci-ns, ViElLLOT. 



OCCURS iu Western Europe, aud probably breeds iu some of the mountains 

 of the South-West ; one nest having been obtained from the Veglio Alps, 

 in Italy, about 7,000 feet above the sea-level. 



Iu Great Britain this Redpoll is resident, breeding most freely in the north 

 of England and Ireland, aud iu well-timbered localities in Scotland, more particu- 

 larly iu plantations of birch. This bird is, however, by no meaus restricted to 

 the north of England, or Ireland, during the breeding-season ; its nest having 

 been found in most of the southern counties to the east of Somerset, in the north 

 of which county it has also bred : in Kent, I believe, it breeds regularly, though 

 not abundantl}', every j-ear.* 



The upper surface, of the adult male in breeding-plumage is ruddy olive- 

 brown, longitudinally streaked on each feather with blackish ; wings and tail 

 darker brown, with pale margins ; innermost secondaries broadly margined; median 

 and greater coverts with broad huffish tips; crown bright satiny crimson iu front; 

 rump washed with rosy-red ; lores and centre of throat black ; sides of head and 

 throat golden olive-brown ; breast rose-red ; sides and flanks golden olive-brown, 

 streaked with blackish ; belly white, stained with huffish ; beak ochreous-yellow, 



* E. A. Swaiusou (Zoologist, 1S91, p. 357) records the fact tliat this species breeds every year uear Brecon 

 iu Wales. The nest has also beeu fouud in Sussex, Berks, Surre}-, Middlesex, Cheshire, Oxfordshire, Rutlandshire, 

 and the Outer Hebrides. 



Vul.. 11. X 



