34 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



distributed. The amount of red and the shades of it 

 differ greatly in different individuals, but in none is it 

 purple, as the name would indicate. Stearns says this 

 name w^as erroneously applied from the faulty coloring 

 of some early plates, but it would seem that one ought 

 never to name a bird without knowing personally at 

 least its physical characteristics. The young males, 

 the first year, and sometimes the second, lack the bright 

 markings, and are plainly clad, like the females. If not 

 singing they may easily be mistaken for sparrows, 

 which they considerably resemble both in color and 

 manner of flight. 



The linnets are quite irregularly distributed, being 

 plentiful in some neighborhoods, when there are few or 

 none in others adjoining. Evergreens and certain fruit 

 trees very likely have something to do with this unequal 

 distribution, as they are partial to spruce, balsam and 

 pine for nesting and hiding places, while the pear, 

 cherry and hawthorn provide both vegetable and insect 

 food. The linnets are fond of the pistils and stamens 

 of the elms; and they undoubtedly eat some of the buds 

 and flower organs of the fruit trees, thereby incurring 

 the enmity of many farmers, who wage an extermi- 

 nating war upon them. If the truth could be known it 

 would be found that they never thin out the flowers 

 sufficiently to cause the loss of any considerable quan- 

 tity of fruit, and that for every quart destroyed they 

 make it possible for ten times that number of bushels to 

 grow. So little do Ave appreciate the services of our 

 friends ! Last summer I visited a fruit grower whose 



