PASSERINiE. 271 



obtuse than in the Goldfinches. They feed on seeds of plants ; those of 

 flax and hemp in particular, and are easily kept imprisoned. 



There are some species in Europe, brown, tinted with red, which are 

 more peculiarly styled Linnets. The quantity of red in the young birds 

 and females is very various, and sometimes is totally wanting. The bill 

 of the fitst is almost as pointed as that of the Goldfinch. It is, 



Fr. linaria, L. ; The Siserin; Enl. 485, 2 ; Vieill. Gal. 65 ; Naum. 

 126. (The Redpoll). Brown, spotted with black above; two white 

 bands across the wing ; black throat ; top of the head, as well as the 

 breast of the adult male, red; the rump is sometimes of the same 

 colour. A northern bird, of which it is supposed two races have 

 lately been detected, a large and a small one *. 



Fr. cannahina, L. ; Enl. 485,1; Naum. 121. (The Linnet). 

 Back, fawn-coloured brown ; quills of the wing and tail, black, edged 

 with white ; whitish underneath ; a fine red on the head and breast 

 of the old male ; bill grey. Builds among vines, bushes, &c. 



An intermediate species, most nearly allied however to the second, 

 Fring. montium, Gra., Naum. 122, is occasionally seen from the 

 North. Its bill is yellow, and there is some red on the rump of the 

 male. 



There are other species more or less greenish, which are called by the 

 French Serins or Tarins. The 



Fring. spinus, L. ; Turin commun, Enl. 485, 3; Naum. 125. 

 (The Siskin). Also has a bill more like that of the Goldfinch, and 

 is even similar in many points to the Redpoll. It is of an olive co- 

 lour above ; yellow beneath ; calotte, wings and tail, black ; two yel- 

 low bands on the wing. It builds on the very summits of the tallest 

 pines. 



The other species have the shorter bill of the Linnet. 



Fring. eitrinella, L. ; Le Venturon, Enl. 658, 2; Vieill. Gal. 62; 

 Naum. 124, 3, 4.' Olive above; yellowish beneath; back of the 

 head and neck ash coloured. 



Fring. serinus, L.; Le Cini, Enl. 658, 1; Naum. 123. Olive 

 above; yellowish beneath; spotted with brown; a yellow band on 

 the wing. Two birds from the mountains of the south of Europe, 

 about the size of the Fr. spinus. 



Fring. canaria, li.; Enl. 202, 1. (The Canary Bird). Is larger, 

 and the facility with which it breeds, in a state of confinement, toge- 

 ther with its melodious and powerful song, have disseminated it every 

 where, and caused it to vary so much in colour, that it is difficult to 

 ascertain its original hue. It mixes with most of the other species 

 of this genus, and often produces hybrids with them, which are more 

 or less fruitful -j-. 



* See the Mera. de M. Vieillot, Acad, do Turin, torn, xxiii, p. 193, et seq. 



t Among the birds foreign to Europe, which cannot be distinguished from the 

 Linnets by any generic character, we place, Fring. lepida ; — Fr. tristis, Enl. 202, 2; 

 —Fr. iricra, Enl. 364;— Fr. nilens, Enl. 224;— F. senegalla, Vaill. Ois. ch. pi. ix;— 

 F.amandava, Enl. 115, 2 and 3; — F. granatina, Enl. 109, 3; — F. bengalus; — F. ango- 



