MOUNTAIN LINNET. 523 



have seen a flock here during tlie whiter, frequenting wikl 

 stubble land. Last winter I shot a pair within a few hundred 

 yards of Jardine Hall, evidently driven in by the storm. 

 They were feeding on the heads of the black knapweed, 

 Centaur ea nigra. 



Mr, Selby " found it a plentiful species, and generally dis- 

 tributed in Sutherlandshire. It was first met with at Laing, 

 and afterwards occurred at all the different stations that were 

 occupied. Its song was pleasing, though scarcely equal in 

 compass to that of L. cannahina.'''' 



The Rev. Mr. Low states in his Fauna Orcadensis, " that 

 this little bird remains in the Orkneys all the year, building 

 in the heath, but seldom or ever in bushes." Mr. J. D. 

 Salmon, who furnished to Mr. Loudon''s Magazine of Natural 

 History an account of a visit to the Orkneys, has remarked, 

 " That the Mountain Linnet was the only species of Linnet 

 seen by the party ; two nests came under our observation, 

 one was placed upon the ground, among the young corn, the 

 other amidst some Avhins, Ulex. They were both alike : 

 their outsides were composed of small roots and dried grass ; 

 and their insides lined with a small quantity of hair and a 

 few feathers ; and each contained six eggs, similar in appear- 

 ance to those of the Common Linnet, but rather smaller."'"' 



Mr. Dunn, in his Ornithologist's Guide to Orkney and 

 Shetland, says of the Mountain Linnet, or, as it is there 

 called, the Heather Lintee, this, " as far as I am aware, is 

 the only Linnet that breeds in these countries, over which it 

 is pretty numerously dispersed. I have repeatedly taken its 

 nest, which I found in shaded situations amongst long heath. 

 In the winter it appears in large flocks, frequently in com- 

 pany with Sparrows and Snow Buntings, and infests the corn 

 yards." Our southern bird-catchers say they can tell imme- 

 diately if there are any Mountain Linnets among the flocks 

 of small birds around them, by their particular note, which is 



