8o The Lesser Redpoll 



The Lesser Redpoll iu coufiuemeut is for ever fidgeting about on the wirework 

 of its cage, somewhat after the fashion of a Tit : during the breeding season the 

 male and female spend half the day in caressing like a pair of Love-birds ; whilst 

 the song of the male at that season is frequent, but is a ver}^ poor performance, 

 not unlike a feeble Brambliug's song, consisting (as already hinted) of a mere 

 monotonous trill, resembling a distant railwaj'-guard's whistle : this trill is some- 

 times copied by young Canaries, and is considered ruination to their notes. 



M}- experience of this species in an aviary is that no Finch of its size is so 

 mischievously meddlesome as the Lesser Redpoll ; not onl}' does it rarely breed, 

 but if another bird which happens to be building, leaves its nest for fresh material, 

 the Redpoll immediately flies down and commences to pull it to pieces. On the 

 other hand, Mr. G. C. Swailes, of Beverle3% has been rather succesful in breeding 

 Redpolls. 



The first Redpolls I ever had, cost me about three shillings for the pair ; 

 but I soon discovered that I had paid at least three times their value, inasmuch as 

 the price asked b_y bird-catchers for equally good birds varied at that time from eight- 

 pence to a shilling the pair : altogether I have had a good man}', and yet never 

 cared much for them : it is true that they very soon grow tame, although never so 

 completely so as Siskins ; but after their first moult iu close confinement all the 

 crimson and rose colouring disappears and never returns, the forehead becoming 

 3'ellowish ; and even in an aviary it goes after their second moult, so that a ver}- 

 soberly clad, restless, inquisitive little bird, with no proper song, but a large appetite, 

 is all that remains. 



Herr Gatke's account of a pair of Redpolls which nested in his garden in 

 Heligoland is rather puzzling : he speaks of only discovering the nest in the 

 autumn when the leaves were falling, yet is sure of the identit}^ of the species 

 from the fact that on one occasion he picked up two of the young birds, and 

 restored them to their home amongst the elder branches. Can the Redpolls have 

 been breeding in the autumn ? 



