504 FRINOILLIDE. 



Our Common Linnet, wliich, assuming in the breeding- 

 season a red colour on the breast, is then called the Rose 

 Linnet, and at other times the Brown Linnet, is a well 

 known species, existing in great numbers on most of the un- 

 cultivated lands of this country, appearing to prefer commons 

 and fields of furze. The gay and active habits of this spe- 

 cies, their sprightly and agreeable notes, would enliven a 

 dreary scene, while their social disposition in confinement 

 render them great favourites with those who are partial to 

 caged birds. Except during the breeding season, these birds 

 are usually seen in flocks, roving from place to ])lacc, feeding 

 generally upon small seeds, particularly those of the cruci- 

 form plants, with other seeds of flax,* thistle, and dandelion. 

 Sir William Jardinc, in one of the valuable notes to his 8vo. 

 edition of Wilson's American Ornithology, says, " Every 

 one who has lived much in the country must have often re- 

 marked the Common Linnets congregating towards the close 

 of a fine winter"'s evening, perched on the summiit of some 

 bare tree, pluming themselves in the last rays of the sun, 

 chirruping the commencement of their evening song, and 

 then bursting simultaneously into one general chorus, again 

 resuming their single strains, and again joining, as if happy, 

 and rejoicing at the termination of their day"'s employment.""" 



In the pairing season, the thickest parts of furze bushes are 

 generally selected as the place for incubation, and the birds 

 begin building early in spring. The nest is usually formed 

 of small twigs on the outside, with bents of grass, lined with 

 wool, and sometimes with the addition of hair or feathers. I 

 have known the Linnet's nest to be placed high in a white- 

 thorn bush, and I have a note of one that was found in a fir 

 tree, ten or eleven feet above the ground. The eggs are 

 four or five in number, of a pale bluish white colour, speckled 



* The Linnets were probably so named from their partiality to the seeds of 

 tiie various species of flax, — Lhmni, Linaria, Linota,h^ Linotte, Linnet. 



