MOUNTAIN LINNET, OR TWITE. 285 



being of a deep purplish brown at the base, but 

 which is nearly obscured by the pale tips con- 

 cealing the darker tint. 



It may be remarked, that in confinement the 

 breeding plumage is not assumed, and a male 

 taken in the highest stage of his full summer 

 livery does not regain it in the coming year. 



THE MOUNTAIN LINNET, OR TWITE, LTNARIA 

 MONTANA. Fringilla montana, montium, Perm. 

 Mont. Linaria montana, Selby. Linota 

 montium, YarrelL Mountain Linnet, or Tiuite, 

 of British authors. The northern parts of Britain 

 are, perhaps, the localities which may be most 

 properly assigned to this Linnet, as it regularly 

 breeds there, assembling in large flocks during 

 winter, many also being permanently resident ; it 

 decreases and becomes partially migratory as it 

 approaches the south, while the last species which 

 there replaces it is similarly affected in the bor- 

 ders of its northern range. In the north of Scot- 

 land and Hebrides, it is the common species;* 

 and although its nest has been recorded in York- 

 shire, Staffordshire, and Derbyshire, (all of which 

 are in many parts almost Alpine districts,) theae, 

 as Mr Yarrel observes, may be the limit of its 

 southern nidification. In the south of Scotland, 

 and in England, the general time of appearance 

 is in winter, frequenting nearly the same localities 



* Macgillivray, Lowe, Dunn, &c. our own observa- 

 tions. 



