LINOTA BREWSTERI ! BREWSTER's LINNET. 225 



1875, P- 44 1 ) ' but Mr. W. A. Jeffries took the liberty 

 of shooting a Mealy Red-poll in Swampscott, Mass., 

 Nov. 16, 1878 (Bull. Nutt. Club, iv, Apr., 1879, p. 

 121 ), and Dr. Brewer, in alluding to this circumstance, 

 speaks of another Massachusetts specimen which he 

 found in the collection of F. P. Atkinson (Pr. Bost. 

 Soc., xx, 1879, P- 2 7)- Mr. J. A. Allen had pre- 

 viously attributed the bird to Massachusetts (Am. Nat., 

 iii, 1870, p. 583), although he was at that time averse 

 to consider it as a good species, he having recognized 

 among a number of Red-polls shot in that State four 

 of the supposed species given in Dr. Coues's " Mon- 

 ograph." 



BREWSTER'S LINNET. 

 LINOTA FLAVIROSTRIS BREWSTERI (Rdgw.} Coues. 



Chars. With the general appearance of an immature 



this bird will be recognized by absence of any crimson on the 

 crown and of black on the chin, a peculiar yellowish shade on 

 the lower back, and somewhat different proportions. 



The type and only known specimen of this alleged 

 species was shot out of a flock of Red-polls at Wal- 

 tham, Mass., Nov. i, 1870, by Mr. William Brewster, 

 and described as new by Mr. Ridgway in the Ameri- 

 can Naturalist, vi, July, 1872, p. 433. Nothing further 

 being known of the bird, we are much in the dark re- 

 specting its real character, and the circumstances of 

 its presence in New England. It is apparently not a 

 Red-poll (sEgwthus), and is certainly different from 

 any recognized North American bird ; but its relation- 

 ship to some European species is still in question. 

 15 



