?o BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



as to the limits of various closely- related types, the evidence in favour of these 

 all belonging to one species would seem to be very strong indeed. Nevertheless, 

 as regards Great Britain, the two Redpolls usually met with are sufficiently distinct 

 to be separately treated. 



Dr. Sharpe gives the distribution of our Mealy Redpoll as: "Northern Europe, 

 across Siberia to North America, wintering in more southern localities." 



To Great Britain this bird is a more or less irregular winter visitor ; Howard 

 Saunders states that it " is a regular winter visitor to Shetland, from September 

 onwards, and the track of its migration appears to be principally along the east 

 coast in Scotland, and the north of England, for the bird is rarer, and of more 

 uncertain occurrence on the west side. South of Durham its visits become irregular ; 

 in the eastern counties it has occasionally been obtained in spring, and exceptionally 

 in summer ; and in some years large flocks have been noticed down to the Channel ; 

 but in Cornwall it is as yet unknown. In Ireland an example was taken in co. 

 Kildare, in February, 1876." (Manual British Birds, p. 182). 



The male Mealy Redpoll in breeding-plumage has the upper parts pale brown, 

 lighter on the back and sides of neck, and streaked with blackish- brown ; the 

 forehead crimson ; the rump greyish white, suffused with rose-pink ; wings dull 

 blackish ; median and greater coverts with pale brown edges and whitish tips ; the 

 quills and primary coverts with greyer edges and narrower tips : tail dark brown, 

 with paler edges to the feathers, the inner webs margined with white ; base of 

 forehead and lores black ; a superciliary streak and a short streak below the eye 

 whitish ; sides of face pale brown, the cheeks slightly rosy ; chin black ; throat 

 and breast rose-pink ; remainder of under parts buffish-white, becoming quite white 

 on the under tail-coverts ; flanks streaked with blackish-brown : beak yellowish 

 horn-colour, darker at the tip and more yellow at the base ; feet dark brown ; iris 

 hazel. 



The female is slightly smaller than the male, and has a rather broader crown ; * 

 she is also darker above, more prominently streaked below, and wants the rose- 

 colouring on the rump, the throat, and breast. The young chiefly differ from the 

 female in the lack of crimson on the forehead, and in the more sandy colouring 

 of the upper parts. 



In confinement, the crimson and rosy colouring entirely disappears after the 

 first moult, excepting in large and well ventilated aviaries, when it is sometimes 



* It is the general rule in birds that the sex which builds the nest has the broader crown, but if both 

 sexes build, the male usually has the advantage in this respect ; he also then has a broader and somewhat 

 shorter bill, with less evenly tapering sides : in the typical Finches the female usually has the broader head, 

 but in the Grass-finches, the reverse is often the case. The male also has a narrower and somewhat more 

 tapering wing, formed for speed ; so as to enable him to overtake the female. 



