FOR CA GES AND A VIA RIES. 1 2 9 



THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. See 

 under Gulls. 



THE LESSER GODWIT. See Godwit (Black- 

 tailed). 



THE LESSER REDPOLL. See under Linnets. 



THE LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. See 



under Woodpeckers. 



THE LESSER WHITETHROAT. See under 

 Whitethroats. 



THE LINNETS AND REDPOLLS. 

 The Brown Linnet. See Common Linnet. 



The Common Linnet. 



Curiously enough, this bird has been, and still is, the 

 subject of not a little misconception owing to the changes 

 of colour to which the male is subject. In his wild state 

 he has, when adult, a red forehead and a rosy-red breast, 

 when he is termed the Red Linnet and the Greater Redpoll; 

 these characteristics he loses in the house after his first 

 moult there, and is then known as the Brown Linnet ; and 

 when he is young, either indoors or out, he resembles 

 his mother, and is consequently called the Grey Linnet, 

 for while the back of the adult male is a fine chestnut- 

 brown colour, that of the female is distinctly grey, and 

 she is also much more spotted on the breast, which is 

 greyish-white, while that of the house-moulted male has a 

 buff or yellowish tinge. 



