FRINGILLANA. 387 



the other side of the hedge. What bird is that flying at such a 

 rate, so angrily crying churr, r, r ? That is the missel thrush, 

 but he disappeared within the wood as I came out of it. What 

 a lot of brown linnets here flying in pairs ; are their young ones 

 nearly ripe and preparing for a second brood ? I cannot tell, 

 but there they are ; that one perched on the fence has the 

 reddest rose-tinted breast I ever saw a linnet have — almost as 

 red as a robin's, but this is summer, and that his gayest attire — 

 no wonder he is sometimes called the ' rose-linty.' On 

 approaching Lingo grass parks, up springs, screaming, the 

 curlew and several lapwings, both breeding here. There they 

 go, wheeling, jerking, and diving close to my head, as if they 

 disputed my right to invade their nursery." 



So I sat down on the old dyke, and after writing this hurried 

 note retraced my steps, and reached Market Street in time for 

 tea, pretty tired after my long but interesting walk, in which, 

 like Bottom, the weaver, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," I 

 had seen 



" The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, 

 The plain-son^' cuckoo grey, 

 Whose note full many a man doth mark, 

 And dares not answer, nay." 



SUB-FAMILY FRINGILLANA. 



The next links in Nature's bird chain are the sparrows, 

 finches, and linnets, of which we have a fair share about St 

 Andrews. The generic features of the group are — bill, strong 

 and conical, enabling them to husk grain or seeds, in distinction 

 to the weaker bills of those which live chiefly on insects ; legs 

 and feet, like the buntings, are as well adapted for perching as 

 hopping ; are birds compact in form, of medium length of wings 

 and tail. I shall begin with 



