88 A HANDBOOK OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 
flanks streaked with brown; bill brownish horn-colour, legs 
and feet brown ; irides brown. a@osth 5 inches ; culmen 0°3 ; 
wing 3; tail 2°3 ; tarsus 0°5. 
Adult Female (Summer): Very similar to male but 
darker above, more mottled beneath, and without any red on 
the rump or breast. 
Adult (Winter): Narrow frontal band yellowish-grey ; 
feathers of upper parts generally with lighter margins, concealing 
the red; throat and chest washed with dull buff; bill yellow, 
tipped with brown. 
Young in first plumage: Head, nape, lower back, and 
rump dark brown, edged with greyish-buff; feathers of mantle 
edged with pale reddish-brown ; wings as in adult, but edged 
with reddish-brown ; beneath buffish-white, streaked with 
blackish-brown ; bill and legs brown. 
Distribution : An inhabitant of the more northern parts of 
both hemispheres, breeding chiefly in the birch-region, and 
straying southward in winter. 
Habitat: Wooded localities or in the neighbourhood of 
plantations. 
Note—The Mealy Redpoll, according to its geographical position, is 
subject to great variation, both in size and colour, in its range through 
Arctic Europe, Asia, and America. Examples found in Greenland are 
very large and white, with wings measuring about 3°25 inches; the 
streaks on rump, flanks, and under tail-coverts being nearly obsolete. 
This race of Redpolls is known as Z. hornemanni, and between it and 
the typical Z. daria numberless grades appear, and have received 
from time to time specific titles, the most distinct of which is perhaps 
the L. exzlipes of Coues, which has the unspotted rump of Z. 4orne- 
mannt with the size of Z. “maria. Both the above-mentioned forms 
occur in Arctic Europe. 
LESSER REDPOLL. Vv 
Linota rufescens (Vie7//). 
Adult Male (Summer): Very similar to Z. Zxarza, but 
shorter and much darker generally ; edgzngs of upper feathers 
more rutous ; bill brownish-horn, yellowish at base beneath ; 
legs dark brown ; irides brown. Length 4°75 inches ; culmen 
0°35; wing 2°75; tail 2°2; tarsus 0°45. 
Adult Female (Summer): Decidedly shorter than male 
