150 FRINGILLID/E. 



the same in depth inside, the walls being scarcely anywhere 

 an inch in thickness *. The eggs, from four to six in number, 

 are not to be distinguished in colour from those of the Mealy 

 Redpoll, but are smaller in size, measuring from '69 to "57 

 by from '52 to "45 in. The time of nidification would seem 

 to vary somewhat according to locality. In the north of 

 England it doubtless begins so late that the young are, as 

 stated by Selby, seldom able to fly before the end of June or 

 beginning of July, but further to the southward the birds 

 are certainly a month earlier, as eggs are known to have been 

 iaid by the end of April, though they may be also found 

 unhatched in June. In the north of Ireland, according to 

 Thompson, the eggs are laid during the first half of May. 

 The tameness of this pleasing little bird has long been 

 known. Pennant says that one " was so tenacious of her 

 nest as to suffer us to take her off with our hand, and we 

 found that after we had released her she would not forsake 

 it." f But this absence of fear is not confined to the breed- 

 ing-season, and even in autumn and winter, when nearly all 

 other birds are wildest, a flock of Redpolls as they feed may 

 not only be closely approached, and their various engaging 

 actions studied within a very short distance, but advantage may 

 even be taken of their heedlessness or unsuspecting confid- 

 ence to capture some of the party by means of a limed rod, or 

 to shoot at will almost any number of victims, the survivors, 

 as Mr. W. T. Bree has remarked (Nat. 1838, p. 426), return- 

 ing to the same tree after each discharge of the gun. 



As summer draws on the Lesser Redpoll may be seen in 

 bands scattered over tracts of open country, feeding, like 

 Goldfinches, on the seeds of the thistle, groundsel, dande- 

 lion and other composite plants, but with the approach of 

 autumn these bands usually unite in larger flocks, and 

 though some undoubtedly stay near their breeding-quarters, 

 betaking themselves once more to woods, plantations or 



* A nest brought to the Editor which waf? taken, in 1873, in a garden at 

 Cambridge was built in and upon that of a Long-tailed Titmouse. 



f Both this bird and the Mealy Redpoll are easily reconciled to and have bred 

 in captivity. 



