BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 259 



its allies. The three, four, or more eggs are pale greenish 

 blue, blotched or streaked with reddish brown. 



THE LESSER REDPOLL 



(Linota rufescens). 

 Plate 85. 



Small size and dark plumage are characteristic of the 

 Lesser Redpoll, and the blood-red forehead and crown, 

 present in both sexes, is very distinctive. The adult 

 male in summer has also a carmine breast and a pink- 

 tinted rump. The ordinary notes are low twitterings, 

 but the song is of considerable merit. 



The Lesser Redpoll is generally distributed over our 

 area in winter, when it is gregarious ; but in the nesting 

 season it is rather local. It is found irregularly through- 

 out the wooded regions of Scotland and Ireland and the 

 northern half of England and Wales. In the south, 

 south - west, and southern Midlands of England it is 

 uncommon or unknown, but it is found in some numbers 

 in the south-eastern counties. 



Plantations of young conifei-s are perhaps the most 

 typical nesting haunts ; but the nest may be placed in 

 other trees, or even bushes, or in willows in low, 

 marshy ground. Moss, small stems and twigs, wool, and 

 the like are the usual materials of the cup-shaped nest. 

 Especial care is expended on the lining ; this is com- 

 posed partly of hair and feathers, but principally of the 

 down of willow-catkins, and the like. The four to six 

 eggs have reddish spots on a pale-blue ground. Two 

 broods are usually reared in a summer. 



This bird is here given its more usual place as a 



