412 THE BROWN LINNET. 



Also in his " Ode to the Bee," when he exclaims — 



" Like thee, by fancy wing'd, the Muse 

 Scuds ear' an' heartsome ower the dews, 

 Fu' vogie an' fu' blythe to crap 

 The winsome flowers frae Nature's lap, 

 Twining her living garlands there 

 That lyart time can ne'er impair." 



For 



" The hincy's still as sweet that flows 

 Frae thristle cauld as kendling rose" 



And graphically asks the poor butterfly he saw on the street 



" How could you *troke the mavis' note 

 For ' penny pies all-piping hot ?' 

 Can linties' music be compared 

 Wi' gruntles frae the city guard ? 

 Or can our flow'rs at ten hours' bell 

 The go wan or the spink excel ?" 



The linnet is found broadcast about St Andrews, where there 

 are whins or furze, and plenty of thistles, dandelions, skellocks, 

 and other cruciform weeds, gratuitously working for the farmer 

 without injuring his crops — for, as Tennyson says in 

 " Guinevere" — 



" Next morning while he passed the dim-lit woods, 

 Himself beheld three spirits, mad with joy, 

 Come dashing down on a tall wayside flower, 

 That shook beneath them, as the thistle shakes 

 When three grey linnets wrangle for the seeds," 



holding on like grim death in all attitudes, picking out the 

 seeds, and scattering the down in clouds. I have seen them 

 clinging to the stalks for seeds like tits upon trees for insects. 

 It was once plentiful on our links, before the whins were burnt 

 and trodden down for golf. The yellow bloom, lovely patches 

 of heather, and blue bells were the only decorations — along 

 with the sweet music of the linnet — our famous links once had. 

 Alas ! nearly all gone, with the dear retired right of walking 

 over them — unless after a golf ball ! — when, with consideration 

 for the rights of others, there was plenty of room for all. It 

 breeds early in May, chiefly in whins or low bushes ; also on 

 thorns and trees. I have got their nests on the links, under 

 low whins, twelve inches high, others twelve feet up on trees. 

 The nest is of roots, dried grass, moss, and wool, lined with 

 hair and feathers ; eggs, five or six — white, spotted with red at 



* Exchange. 



