392 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
nests and eggs. Macoun says that a large series of eggs of this species 
was taken at Nachvak in 1895. Also one set of five eggs and nest were 
taken there by G. Ford in 1897, and two eggs at Fort Chimo on June 
13, 1896. 
Acanthis linaria (Linn.). 
REDPOLL; ‘‘ ALDER-BIRD”’ (Stearns). 
Abundant permanent resident. 
The Redpoll is found and has been noted breeding throughout 
the length and breadth of the Labrador peninsula. During the fall 
and winter it collects in large flocks. During the summer it is not so 
gregarious. 
Macoun says: “During the last week of May and early in June, 
1899, Mr. A. P. Low found this bird breeding abundantly at the 
mouth of the Great Whale River, Hudson Bay, and I secured close 
upon 150 eggs of this species that were then collected. The nests 
were built low down in stunted willows, not more than two or three 
feet from the ground and contained five or six eggs each. I have also 
several sets that were taken at Cartwright, Labrador, by the late 
Lambert Dicks during June, 1895..... (W. Raine). WKumlien 
says that “off Kikkertarsoak Islands, on the Labrador coast, as much 
as one hundred miles from land, these birds came aboard of the 
schooner in a gale. They were all young birds.” Mr. Schmitt at 
Nain told us that two kinds of Redpolls nested there. 
We noted 57 Redpolls on our trip north and 77 on our return, most 
of them at Great Caribou Island, Cape Charles, St. Lewis Inlet, and 
Rigolet. They were seen singly or in pairs, and occasionally in small 
loose flocks up to 8 or 10. Their most frequent call note was a rough 
chug or chee resembling very closely the call note of the White-winged 
Crossbill. They also frequently emitted a sweet Goldfinch-like note 
deé-ar. ‘They were constantly singing either from the top of a spruce 
or fir or in the air, flying in irregular circles, flitting about from place 
to place, and frequently dropping suddenly into a tree where they 
continued their song. The song recalls the song of the White-winged 
Crossbill but is much inferior in quality. It is a succession of chugs 
interspersed with deé-ars and chee-chee-chees, with every now and 
then a fine rattling trill. 
