THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 
on weedy pastures and clover stubbles in quest of the 
many small seeds that form its food. It also loves the 
alder- and birch-trees, resorting to them for their seeds. 
It is a tame and confiding little bird, and assumes many 
Tit-like attitudes in quest of food. In summer it also 
eats many insects and larve, and these form the prin- 
cipal food of its young. The Lesser Redpole, like so 
many other Finches, is constantly uttering a twitter- 
ing call-note, both during flight and whilst on the trees, 
bushes, or ground. In spring the male utters a short, 
trilling song, which, however, becomes much less frequent 
after the young are hatched. But one brood generally is 
reared in the year, and preparations for this are com- 
menced in May or June. The tiny nest is very often 
made in a crotch in some dense low hedge, and is a 
beautifully rounded cup, formed outwardly of twigs, 
roots, moss, and dry grass, lined with feathers, vegetable 
down, hair, and sometimes wool. ‘The five or six eggs 
are greenish blue, spotted and speckled with purplish 
brown and pale brown, and occasionally streaked with 
darker brown. ‘The young and their parents remain in 
company during the autumn and winter. 
The adult male Redpole has the upper parts rufous 
brown streaked with dark brown, the wings and tail 
blackish brown, with pale brown margins; the middle and 
greater wing-coverts are broadly tipped and the inner- 
most secondaries broadly margined with rufous brown ; 
the crown is crimson, the rump strongly suffused with the 
same; the chin and upper throat are dark brown, the 
remainder of the under parts buffish, darkest on the flanks, 
which are marked with brown, and suffused with crimson 
on the breast. Bill yellow, darker at the tip; tarsi and 
toes brownish black; irides brown. Length 4% inches. 
The female has no crimson on the upper parts, and the 
flush on the breast is barely visible ; the under parts are 
more streaked, as is still more the case with the nestling, 
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