30 



BRITISH BIRDS 



Wherever there is furze (gorse) there the Linnet is to 

 be found — or should be, for the trappers have exterminated 

 him in some likely localities which he formerly used to 

 frequent in large numbers. The nest is very compactly 

 built of grass and roots, and is sparingly lined with hair ; 

 as a rule it is placed in a clump of furze, and the eggs, 

 which are usually five in number, are pale bluish-white, 

 streaked and spotted with reddish-brown. 



Grass seeds are the favourite food of the Linnet, but in 

 the autumn it [seems to be [as partial to those of the 





" .•':'. 







The Common Linnet. 



knot-weed {Polygonum repens) as the Sparrow itself; and 

 in the house it is best fed on canary-seed with a little 

 summer rape and some plantain, often called rats' tails in 

 the country. 



It will breed freely with the Canary and other Finches, 

 and is in much request for singing-contests, for which it 

 is regularly trained, being kept in a wickedly small cage, 

 covered over with a red handkerchief, as a rule, and ac- 

 customed to trill forth its song at the word of command. 



A pair of hand-reared Linnets nest freely in a cage, and 

 less so in an outdoor aviary, where some of the males 



