LIN OTA LIN ARIA. 



409 



linaria may belong to the closely-allied, but somewhat smaller, form L. e.vilipes, 

 which is certainly found further to the eastward, though I have no knowledge of 

 its breeding in Lapland. 



I take this opportunity of referring to a remarkable seasonal change in these 

 birds, of which Mr. Wolley seems to have been the first observer, though he never 

 published his explanation of the fact, made known to me while T was with him in 

 the summer of 1855 ; and! here repeat what I have elsewhere (Yarrell, Br. B. ed. 4, 

 ii. p. 139) stated on the subject : — " It had long been known that examples differed 

 greatly in the size and especially in the length of the bill, and many naturalists 

 were inclined to believe that this difference indicated two races, if not species, of 

 Redpoll. A certain amount of it indeed was obviously rather apparent than real, 

 being due to the length of the feathers on the bird's face, and thus the bill of a 

 specimen obtained in winter always seemed much shorter than that of one procured 

 in summer ; but from repeated examination of birds killed out of the same flock 

 he [Mr. Wolley] satisfied himself that during the latter season the horny covering 

 of the mandibles was constantly growing longer, and attributed the fact to the 

 softer nature of the food then eaten, observing that when winter xesilXy sets in, and 

 the birds were living solely on hard seeds, the edges and tip of the mandibles were 

 rapidly worn down, so that the bill at the beginning of spring became considerably 

 shorter than it was at the end of the preceding summer." The accuracy of this 

 view, which I think cannot be questioned, was confirmed by the happy conjecture 

 of Dr. Gloger ('Journal fiir Ornithologie,' Nov. 1856, pp. 437, 438), who was the 

 first to publish it, though the pubUcation did not take place until more than eighteen 

 months after I had been informed of it by Mr. Wolley.] 



\ 2191. 0)ie. — Mukka-uoma, 10 June, 1854. 



^ 2192. Four. 



O. W. tab. xi. tig. 31. 



^2193. Five. 



§ 2194. Five. ^ 



O. W. tab. xi. fitr. 32 



§2195. Four. 



0. W. tab. xi. fig. 33. ) Mukka-uoma, 10 June, 1854. 



§ 2196. Three. 



§ 2197. One. 



) 



