BIRDS BROWN ABOVE AND WHITE BELOW. 71 



TWITE.— Form, like the Linnet and Redpoll 

 (plate 49). Length, 5 inches. Upper parts brown, 

 with paler brown edgings to the feathers, and 

 white edgings to some of the wing and tail feathers ; 

 throat bufty, with dark streaks ; rest of under parts 

 white ; rump of the male rosy ; bill short and 

 yellow ; legs blackish. Resident. 



Eggs. — 3-4, occasionally more, pale bluish-green, 

 spotted and blotched with pale purply-brown and deep 

 reddish-brown, and with sparse spottings of darker 

 brown, the markings being chiefly at the larger end ; 

 •7x-5 inch (plate 124). 



Nest. — Of dry grass, root-fibres, moss, or bits of 

 heather, according to surroundings, lined with wool, 

 feathers, and hair, and placed on or near the ground, 

 frequently among heather or in a furze-bush. 



Distribution. — On moor and moss from the Midlands 

 of England to the north of Scotland ; little known in 

 south and east England, though appearing in large 

 numbers on the coast of Lincolnshire in autumn ; 

 common in upland parts of Ireland. 



The Twite is a northern bird, breeding from 

 Scotland to the midland counties of England, and 

 in Ireland. Although often called the Mountain- 

 Linnet, it is a bird not only of the uplands, but also 

 nests on lowland mosses and wherever the ground 

 is sufficiently moor-like to afford it heather, ling, 

 furze, or acceptable substitutes, in which to build its 

 nest. After nesting it flocks in the open lands and 

 stubble-fields, and appears as a winter visitant in the 

 south of England. In its form, size, and colouring, 



