152 MEALY REDPOLL. 



one heading, and to take our small, dark Lesser Redpoll sepa- 

 rately. 



The typical Mealy Redpoll is a regular winter-visitor to Shetland 

 from September onwards, and the track of its migration appears 

 to be principally along the east coast in Scotland and the north of 

 England, for the bird is rarer and of more uncertain occurrence on 

 the west side. South of Durham its visits become irregular ; in the 

 ' Eastern Counties it has occasionally been obtained in spring, and 

 exceptionally in summer ; and in some years large flocks have been 

 noticed down to the Channel ; but in Cornwall it is as yet unknown. 

 In Ireland an example was taken in co. Kildare, in February 1876. 



In Europe and Asia the Mealy Redpoll extends as far north as 

 the limits of birch-growth, but southward, it may be doubted if it 

 reaches below 58° N. lat. ; for the bird found breeding in the 

 mountain-regions of Central Europe is, probably, our Lesser Redpoll. 

 On migration it is irregularly abundant in the northern portions of 

 Europe, but rare in the south of France, Italy, Greece and Southern 

 Russia. As already stated, one or two races breed in Arctic 

 America, and a large form in Greenland, Iceland and Spitsbergen. 



The nest, neatly built of bent.'^, lichens and shreds of bark, with 

 a lining of catkins, hair and feathers, is usually placed in the low 

 fork of a tree, and sometimes in a tuft of grass. The eggs, 5-6, 

 are greenish-blue, spotted with reddish-brown : average measure- 

 ments- 7 by "5 in. The young feed on insects and their larvae ; after- 

 wards on seeds, like the parents. Authorities differ widely as to 

 the song. 



Adult male in spring : lores black ; forehead blood-red ; upper 

 parts dark brown, mottled and streaked with greyish-white, especially 

 on the rump, which is tinged with pink ; tail dark brown, with paler 

 edges ; chin black ; throat and breast carmine ; lower parts dull 

 white, streaked with dark brown on the flanks ; bill horn-colour, 

 yellowish at the base; legs dark brown. Length 5*2 in.; wing 2*9 

 in. Female : smaller ; darker on the upper parts, and more streaked 

 on the lower ; no red on the breast. The young have the upper 

 feathers margined with buff" and have no red on the forehead, but 

 are otherwise like the female. After the autumn moult the new 

 feathers have broad yellowish-grey margins, which, in the male, con- 

 ceal the carmine, and the general appearance is very pale ; whence 

 the name 'mealy,' and, perhaps, that of ' Stone-Redpoll' The 

 Greenland form, as already observed, is larger than any of the other 

 races, paler, and with less carmine colour. 



