426 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



the bird increases in brilliancy. Thus the male linnets when fora^ng 

 in the mixed flocks during fall and winter are dull-hued, pinkish rather 

 than bright red. By the time that singing and courting are commenced 

 in earnest, in early spring, the birds have become much more brilliant 

 in hue, and so they make more of a display when they sue animatedly for 

 the attention of the dull plumaged females. 



Linnets, like purple finches, when frightened usually seek safety in 

 flight rather than in dodging into the protection of trees or brush as 

 many sparrows are wont to do. If a flock of linnets is come upon suddenly, 

 while feeding in a weed patch or on the ground, they get up quickly with 

 an audible whirring of wings and make rapidly off in ascending course. 

 The flock is usually dense when it first rises. Then it opens out and the 

 individuality of the members is expressed as each pursues its own undulat- 

 ing course. Linnets, more perhaps than any other of the finches, are 

 accustomed to strike out into the open, mounting high into the sky aud 

 circling for a time, before descending again. 



The song of the male linnet is heard off and on through the greater 

 part of the year. After the annual molt begins, in late summer, singing 

 is indulged in sparingly and the birds usually remain relatively quiet until 

 some protracted warm spell during the late winter, or until the first days 

 of actual spring. From then on, their voices resound, in favorable places, 

 from early dawn until late dusk. During the courting season they are 

 as apt to pour forth their melodies while in flight high overhead as when 

 perched. 



After the couples have become established, the male and female of 

 each pair stay close together, both when perched or when in flight, and 

 when alone or with other pairs. In flight, the male usually keeps a little 

 behind and to one side of the female, and when foraging he is quick to 

 follow any changes in her loeation. After she begins the work of incuba- 

 tion he is wont to post himself on a perch close to the nest, where he is 

 to be seen and heard much of the time. 



Linnets build their nests in a wide variety of situations. Near La- 

 grange, on May 6, 1919, a nest was found on the up-stream side of a pile 

 of drift close beside the Tuolumne River. It was ensconced in a natural 

 niche in the mass of drift about 5 feet above the ground. Near Coulter- 

 ville, on May 10, 1919, an incomplete nest was found about 8 feet above 

 the ground in a slender blue oak. At Pleasant Valley, on May 23, 1915, 

 a nest with two fresh eggs was seen 5 feet above the ground in a small 

 blue oak. At Snelling on May 28, 1915, a nest with 5 fresh eggs was found 

 in an old cliff swallow's nest on the wall of a gully and only 61 inches 

 above the bed of the wash (pi. 47&.) At Smith Creek, east of Coulterville, 

 on June 5, 1915, a nest with 2 young birds in it was seen 5 feet 4 inches 

 above the ground in a young yellow pine. 



