THE MEALY REDPOLL. 69 



Mule-breeding between Goldfinch and Canary is easy enough, for I was suc- 

 cessful in my first essay ; but between the Goldfinch and other Finches, there is 

 more difficulty (although this species sometimes hybridizes with the Greenfinch in 

 a wild state) especially in the case of the only really handsome cross between the 

 Goldfinch and Bullfinch. The variety of Goldfinch known as a " Cheverel " is 

 sometimes preferred for muling purposes ; it differs from the normal form in 

 having the centre of the throat white. 



The bird-catchers assert that Goldfinches from different parts of our islands 

 sing differently ; and they call the best singers " Slammers," from a fancied 

 resemblance of part of the song to the words " Slam-so-witty, slippity-cur," with 

 other rubbish which no bird could whistle. 



Family FRINGILLIDsE. Subfamily FRINGILLIN/E. 



THE MEALY REDPOLL. 



Acanthis linaria, LINN. 



treats the Redpolls as races of one species, but considers that the 

 typical form, A. linaria, and the two extremes, A. rufescens and A. hornemanni, 

 are worthy of subspecific rank ; at least that seems to me to be the only construc- 

 tion to be put upon his observations. Howard Saunders, on the other hand, 

 unites A. linaria and A. hornemanni, remarking : " for the sake of convenience, I 

 propose to treat the Mealy Redpolls under one heading, and to take our small, 

 dark Lesser Redpoll separately." As this appears to me to be the most reasonable 

 course to pursue, I shall do the same. Dr. Sharpe regards the Lesser Redpoll 

 fA. rufescens) as a subspecies of A. linaria, but distinguishes A, hornemanni as a 

 subspecies of A. exilipes, the latter being considered a different species from the 

 Mealy Redpoll, on account of its greyer rump. When no two Ornithologists agree 



