Pinches. 155 



those of the cruciferous plants. Its fondness for flax 

 or linum-seed has given it its name of Linnet. It is 

 also very fond of hemp-seed, but must not have much 

 of either of these seeds, their oily nature makes the 

 bird too fat. The best food for Linnets is bird-turnip 

 and canary-seed : a little salt mixed with it is some- 

 times useful, and green food occasionally. They are 

 liable to surfeit from eating too much and taking but 

 little exercise ; and bread and milk, lettuce-seed, or 

 two drops of castor-oil put into their drinking-water, 

 are the specifics for this. They require plenty of 

 water, and are fond of bathing both in sand and water. 

 They sometimes suffer from epilepsy, but there is not 

 the same objection to a bell-shaped cage for the Linnet 

 as for the Goldfinch and Chaffinch. They will live 

 from twelve to sixteen years in confinement, and will 

 often form great attachments to one another, even 

 amongst two birds of the same sex. The male Linnet 

 v/ill sometimes pair with the Canary, but the mules 

 are not nearly so beautiful as the offspring of the 

 Goldfinch and Canary, though they are generally 

 good songsters, and prized on that account. 



The MOUNTAIN LINNET (Fringilla montium), called 

 from its peculiar note the " Twite," and by the Scotch 

 the Heather Lintie, is a larger and more slender-look- 

 ing bird than the common Linnet, but has the same 

 changes of plumage, excepting the red head, and much 

 resembles it in its character and habits, so that it is 



