118 BRITISH BIRDS. 
one example has been obtained in France and another in Heligoland. In 
Greenland it does not breed south of lat. 69°, and Holboll found it 
still common in lat. 73°. 
The Redpole is a very interesting bird, especially to British ornitholo- 
gists, who have opportunities of studying its habits during the breeding- 
season denicd to the field-naturalists of other countries. The variations in 
its plumage at different ages have given rise to much controversy, and the 
specific value of those due to geographical distribution to still more. In its 
appearance it isan immature Linnet ; but in its habits it resembles more the 
Siskin, a bird to whose society it is very partial in winter. It has the easy 
buoyant flight of the latter bird, and there is a considerable similarity in 
their songs. The British Redpole, or, as it is more generally called, the 
Lesser Redpole, is a resident in our islands ; but after the breeding-season 
is over these birds collect together in flocks, some of which seem to cross 
the Channel for the winter. In either case they become gipsy migrants, 
wandering here and there in search of food, very uncertain in their appear- 
ance, common one year and rare the next. The Mealy Redpole scarcely 
differs in its habits in this respect. Jn Finmark Collett says that though 
the majority leave the country and wander south in winter, many 
remain behind and feed upon the buds of the birch and alder. In Siberia, 
however, the greater degree of cold probably compels them all to migrate. 
In the valley of the Yenesay I found them in large flocks feeding on the 
droppings of the horses on the snow at Yenesaisk in lat. 58°, in the first 
week of April; but on the banks of the Koorayika, on the Arctic circle, I 
saw nothing of them until the last week in May. So true are they to their 
character of gipsy migrants that, according to Naumann, they are popu- 
larly said to appear in Germany only once in seven years, arriving in 
November and leaving again early in February. The Greenland or Arctic 
Redpole is said to be a resident in that country ; but it appears also to be 
a partial migrant; for my friend Mr. Brooks assures me that it visits him 
in Canada in winter, and Holbdll describes its erratic wanderings, occa- 
sionally appearing in great numbers near the Danish colonies. 
All the three varieties are principally ground-feeders in winter, and if 
cautiously approached show very little fear. In the plantations and forests 
they are much more difficult to observe, frequenting, like the Siskin and 
the Serin, the tops of the trees. They pass rapidly over the trees, twittering 
to each other as they fly along. Itisa beautiful sight to see a large flock 
of these little birds hopping about on the snow, picking up seeds from the 
droppings of the horses, almost allowing the sledge to run over them before 
they rise in a cloud and drop down again a hundred yards in advance. Nor 
are their habits in this country any less interesting, as they alight in a flock 
on a bed of dead thistles, and tear the remains of the flowers to pieces, like 
Goldfinches, scattering the fragments in every direction, or twist and twine 
