PASSERES. ( 172 ) FRINGILLID^. 



THE LESSEE EEDPOLL. 



REDPOLL, SMALLER REDPOLL, LINNET. 



Linota rufescens. 

 %^z EetipolL 



See the birds together, 

 In this splendid weather, 



And each feathered neighbour 

 Enters on his labour. 

 Sparrow, Robin, Redpoll, Finch, Linnet, and the Wren. 



Mary Howitt, An April Day. 



In Berwickshire the Lesser EedpoU is generally seen in 

 small flocks with Siskins, feeding upon the seeds of birch 

 and alder trees during the autumn and winter months, but it 

 is also observed in small family parties towards the end of 

 summer. Of late years some small flocks of five or six have 

 several times been noticed by me in the latter part of July 

 frequenting the young fir plantations near my house at 

 Paxton, being apparently on local migration. A pair were 

 seen in the beginning of June 1887 haunting the same 

 young woods, where they appeared to be nesting ; but on a 

 very careful search being made, no nest could be found, and 

 the birds shortly afterwards left for other quarters. The 

 great majority of the Eedpolls which form the flocks seen 

 in the county in winter, appear to come in autumn, and 

 leave in spring.^ 



1 The Lesser Redpoll was observed on Migration : — Auhmm 1881. — Isle of 

 May, 'iOth and 24tli Oct. ; Fames, 26th Oct. Spring 1882. -Isle of May. 

 ^MfwHWi 1882. —Isle of May. Autumn 1885.— Isle of May.— 14th Oct.; also 

 23rd Jan. 1886. — Reports on the Migration of Birds, 1879-85. 



