THE LESSER REDPOLE 
LINOTA RUFESCENS 
Loca names in surrounding counties : 
Status IN British Avirauna: Resident, breeding but 
locally in the south of England; increasingly abundant 
northwards and in Scotland. It is commonest in summer 
in the north of Ireland, rarer in the south of that 
country. It is much more widely distributed in autumn 
and winter. ; 
RapiaL DisTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Pauw’s: It is only very exceptionally that the Lesser 
Redpole breeds anywhere within the Metropolitan area. 
It is recorded as having done so at Wimbledon. In 
autumn and winter, however, it is by no means uncommon, 
although irregular in appearance and somewhat local. I 
have seen this bird in St. James’s Park; and I well re- 
member a small flock which the late Henry Seebohm 
and myself stood and watched for some time as we were 
crossing the Green Park one morning in the late autumn 
of 1881. He told me that the bird was frequently seen at 
Dulwich, where he then resided. I have also records from 
Battersea Park, Clapham, Peckham, Kensington Gardens, 
Regent’s Park, and Kilburn. ‘The bird also visits the 
districts of Hampstead, Highgate, Kingsbury, Wembley, 
Twyford, Wormwood Scrubbs, Ealing, Acton, Osterley, 
Kew, Chiswick, Richmond, Wimbledon, ‘Tooting, Dul- 
wich, Greenwich, Wanstead, and Epping. It is scarcely 
necessary to mention the extreme outlying suburbs, to 
which the bird is a more numerous visitor still. 
Like the Siskin, the Lesser Redpole lives in flocks during 
autumn and winter, and it is then that this small Finch 
is met with in the area of London. Its habits closely 
resemble those of the Siskin, but the bird shows more 
partiality for the ground, and may frequently be seen 
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