1560 THE PERCHING BIRDS 



no feathers, being lined entirely with thistle down. A third was lined entirely with 

 hair, and very little thistle down had been used in its construction. ' ' The eggs are 

 greenish blue in ground color, speckled with reddish gray and blood red. The citril 

 finch is a favorite among continental bird fanciers, being easily tamed, and occasion- 

 ally hybridizing with other finches in captivity. Although it passes the summer 

 among the mountain forests, it descends from the higher grounds during severe 

 weather. It is valued as a cage bird, principally because it possesses a loud, pleas- 

 ant song, sometimes compared to that of the canary. The adult male in breeding 

 plumage has the general color above dull olive green, with dusky shaft streaks to 

 the feathers; the rump and upper tail coverts being brighter yellow; the nape and 

 sides of 'the throat are ashy gray; the wings and tail dusky brown, edged with ashy 

 yellow; and the crown of the head, as well as the feathers round the eye, the fore 

 part of the cheeks, and the throat and chest olive yellow. 



The linnets have a hard and conical bill, a somewhat pointed wing, 



the tail rather long and forked, the metatarsus short, and the toes 

 stout. They are also characterized by the possession of a nearly uniform brown or 

 whitish-brown plumage, generally associated to some small extent with pale crimson. 

 Chiefly found in the northern parts of the Old World, they are also represented in 

 the Arctic portions of North America. 



The common linnet (Linaria cannabina] inhabits most parts of 

 ammc n Europe, being generally common from Spain eastward to Central Asia, 



although assuming brighter plumage in Turkestan and other distant 

 parts of its range. The linnet in England frequents commons covered with gorse, 

 in which its nest is often placed ; but sometimes it nests in a hedge or small tree. 

 Generally an early breeder, we have seen the young in the nest as late as the month 

 of August. It builds a loose, untidy nest of fine twigs and fibres lined with hair, 

 wool, and sometimes a few feathers, in which it lays from four to six eggs of a 

 greenish-white ground color, blotched with red. After the breeding season linnets 

 range through the fields in vast flocks, often composed of one sex almost exclusively. 

 As autumn advances, many of the linnets that have been bred in the English wood- 

 lands cross the sea to other countries; while others again join company with bands 

 of greenfinches in search of food. The linnet is frequently white or pied, but the 

 most beautiful variety is of a cinnamon brown which harmonizes with the rose- 

 colored breast. The male linnet is warm reddish brown above; the forehead, fore- 

 neck, and chest, being crimson; and the breast and under parts dull buffy white. 



By some ornithologists the lesser redpoll (/,. rufescens) is regarded 

 as a variety of the mealy redpoll of Northern Europe, the former bird 

 being chiefly confined as a breeding species to the British Isles and certain parts of 

 the Alps, though it has also nested on the island of Heligoland. The lesser redpoll 

 is an early breeder, selecting a variety of trees to contain its nest, including alder, 

 hazel, crab, birch, willow, and walnut; as many as five nests having been seen at 

 once in a single hawthorn hedge. The height from the ground at which the nest is 

 placed varies from four to twenty feet; and the composition of the nest also varies, 

 the exterior generally consisting of moss and dried grass, with a lining of beautiful 

 down from the catkin of the willow; but we have seen nests composed of dead fir 



