BIRDS OF NEW YORK 273 



is on the wing, which may be described as intermediate between the cor- 

 responding rolling call of the White-winged crossbill and the ordinary piping 

 call of the Red crossbill, though somewhat softer than either " (Gerald 

 Thayer). On the 27th of March 1912, I heard the song of a full plumaged 

 Redpoll delivered from the peak of a tamarack in a swamp near Geneva, 

 N. Y. It resembled somewhat the ecstatic flight song of the Goldfinch, 

 but seemed to me more melodious and finer toned, more of the quality 

 of the " tweet " call of the Goldfinch and less of the warbling quality, but 

 delivered in the manner of the Goldfinch's warble. The Redpoll is fully 

 as gregarious as the Crossbill, is rarely found except in flocks of from 20 

 to 50, sometimes 200 or 300. When the flocks take wing they keep up 

 a combination of twittering and chirping very characteristic of the species. 

 In habits they are wholly beneficial, feeding only on seeds of trees or on 

 the seeds of harmful weeds which grow in the field. 



Acanthis linaria holboelli (Brehm) 

 Ilolboell Redpoll 



Linaria holboellii Brehm. Handbuch Vogel Deutschl. 183 1. 280 

 Acanthis linaria holboelli A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 248. 

 No. 5283 



holboelli, to C. Holboell 



Description. Like the common Redpoll in color, but larger, the bill 

 slimmer and longer (see dimensions given under rostrata). 



Distribution. This subspecies of Redpoll breeds in the holarctic 

 region, in America on the islands of the Arctic coast, especially Herschel 

 island, and wanders southward in winter as far as Quebec, Ontario, Maine 

 and Massachusetts. In New York it has been taken at Lake George, 

 Warren county, January 27, 1890, A. K. Fisher collection, no. 3940; and 

 at Kenwood, near Albany, February 15, 1907, a male taken by George 

 Richard, New York State Museum collection, no. 1753. The dimensions 

 of the latter specimen, which is figured in the half tone on page 272, 

 are: wing 77 millimeters; tail 60; culmen 10.5; depth of bill 6.5; tarsus 15; 



18 



