150 THE FINCHES 



the greenfinch or brambling, but, according to Lilford, 1 holds aloof, 

 and admits not others to his company. A strange discrepancy upon 

 a point so material! and it goes still further, since the former do 

 not scruple to say that he hobnobs even with sparrows ! 2 In time, 

 no doubt, the truth will appear; meanwhile it may be conjectured 

 that, over wide and varying localities, there is some variation in 

 habits. Subject to this, however, I should incline to the less exclusive 

 view of the birds' character, since, if not the twite, yet both the mealy 

 and lesser redpolls, his very near kinsfolk, keep company, whilst flocking, 

 not only with other finches, should they be about, but even with birds 

 who have not that title to recommendation such as tits. At least 

 this demarche must be held to be established in the case of the mealy 

 redpoll, since either Dresser or Sharpe (I have not been successful in 

 my endeavours to ascertain which) says distinctly that, when in " small 

 straggling flocks," he has frequently seen him in company with titmice. 3 

 This was in " the lonely forests of North America," yet where there is 

 a flock, however small, loneliness can hardly be pleaded as an excuse. 

 It certainly looks like a proclivity. The fact has not been so clearly 

 brought home to the lesser redpoll, yet the inference seems strongly 

 against him. We certainly have it that, "during the winter, he 

 is often seen frequenting birch and alder trees, sometimes in com- 

 pany with other small birds, clinging to ends of branches in all sorts 

 of attitudes, like titmice and goldcrests." 4 This last, and the fact that 

 the names of the small birds are not given, makes it extremely likely 

 in fact, almost forces one to believe that they were tits, if not gold- 

 crests, or, at any rate, that tits were amongst them. Since, therefore, 

 two members of the genus Linota make themselves thus common, it 

 need not surprise us that a third, and that the most representative of 

 them, also should. In regard to the twite, evidence on this head 

 seems wanting. Like the linnet, it collects, in winter, in flocks 

 albeit but small ones and thus roams the country. 5 It then (in the 



1 Birds of Northampton. He speaks of flocks of from twenty to sixty birds in the 

 winter. 



* Birds of Europe. * Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Saxby, Birds of Shetland. 



