188 LAND-BIRDS. 



often uttered as they fly, are much louder and less musical. 

 They have also a very characteristic note, resembling the word 

 wee, uttered in a peculiar tone with a rising inflection, and, 

 moreover, if I remember correctly, a loud and rather unmu- 

 sical trill. 



V. ACANTHIS. 



A. LIN ARIA. " Red-poll." Bed-poll Linnet. Lesser 

 " Red-poll." Another irregular visitant to New England, in 

 the winter season only, being in some years very common and 

 in others altogether absent, at least in Massachusetts.* 



a. About 5|- inches long. Upper parts, flaxen, dark 

 streaked. Beneath, whitish, more or less dusky streaked. 

 Wings and tail, dusky, with white edgings ; the former with two 

 narrow whitish bars. Grown, carmine ; " rump, white or rosy, 

 always streaked with dusky." In the mature $ the breast is 

 bright rosy, and the under tail-coverts paler and streaked. 



[Dr. Coues has endeavored to establish one or two varie- 

 ties of this species, which it is perhaps necessary to accept. 

 They are VAR.fuscescens,^ Dusky Red-poll, a darker form; 

 with " rump scarcely lighter," and " sides heavily streaked," 

 which Dr. Coues supposes may occur from the wearing of the 

 feathers, and VAR. exilipes,^. American Mealy Red-poll, with 

 flaxen paled to whitish, and rump unstreaked in adults, "rep- 

 resenting," says Dr. Coues, "the true Mealy Eedpoll, A. ca- 

 nescens, of Greenland."] 



b. The " Red-polls " breed in arctic countries on the 

 ground, and lay four or five eggs, which are light greenish 

 blue, with a few brown spots, and which average about .65 X 

 .50 of an inch. 



c. The "Red-polls" are occasionally the most abundant 

 of our winter birds, but, on the other hand, several successive 

 winters often pass without their occurrence in Massachusetts. 



* An irregular, but at times most pes, a rare winter visitor to New Eng- 



abundant winter visitor, not known to land. W. B. 



breed in New England. W. B. The nest is built in birches, alders, 



t Not now considered a valid form, or willows, usually near, but never, so 



W. B. far as I am aware, actually on the 



J Now Acanthis hornemannii exili- ground. W. B. 



