PASSERES. ( 174 ) FRINGILLID/E. 



THE TWITE. 



MOUNTAIN LINNET, HEATHER LINTIE. 



Linotaflavirostris. 

 Wqz l^eat!)er liintiz. 



Sweet among the knowes and brakens 



Sing the Linties, chantiiig clear ; 

 Sweet aviang the bogs and mosses, 



Flora's gems the loneness cheer. 



Dr. Henderson, 



The Heather Lintie, which is very like the Common Linnet, 

 but not so large, is occasionally seen in small flocks in the 

 lower parts of the county during winter, and in summer it is 

 found in the Lammermuirs. In the end of December 1874, 

 a small flock visited the Crow-Dean Wood at Paxton, where 

 they fed on the seeds of the avens {Geiim urhamim), 

 which is plentiful there. Mr. Hardy mentions having seen 

 this bird some years ago early in October, in the woods 

 round the " Dog-bush " near Marygold,^ and also that old 

 shepherds in the Lammermuirs used to know its nest. Mr. 

 W. Duns, builder, Duns, has informed me that about sixty- 

 five years ago, when he was a boy, his father sometimes 

 brought home Heather Linties in a " stocking leg," to be 

 kept as cage-birds. They were called " Peepers," and were 

 caught with horse-hair " girns " at Borthwick, on the march 

 between Duns Castle and Langton estates. Mr. Mason, 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. v. p. 233. 



