THE MEALY REDPOLL. 71 



partially retained : this statement also applies to the Lesser Redpoll, the Twite, 

 and the Linnet. 



In its habits, this and all the Redpolls are much alike, restless, fidgety little 

 creatures, Tit-like in their actions, inquisitive, and mischievous ; but intelligent, 

 and therefore easy to teach all kinds of meaningless tricks : principally on account 

 of the last qualification they have become favourite cage-birds with that class of 

 persons which is charmed with what is unnatural. To the true lover of nature a 

 talking bird may be amusing, because it is the nature of many birds to imitate 

 sounds ; but a performing bird is offensive. 



Seebohm (Hist. British Birds, Vol. II, pp. 118-119) has some interesting obser- 

 vations on the habits of this species, both abroad and in this country, which are 

 worth noting. He says that in winter they are principally ground-feeders, which 

 we should have expected to be the case from what we know of Linnets and Gold- 

 finches ; like which 'birds they "alight in a flock on a bed of dead thistles," and 

 amuse themselves by picking them to pieces. He also records the fact of their 

 picking seeds from the droppings of horses in the roads ; which is instructive, as 

 showing that they look upon oats and kindred grain as wholesome food ; a fact 

 which aviculture taught me many years ago. 



The nest of the Mealy Redpoll is usually placed in the fork of a birch-tree 

 at no great height from the ground ; it has also been found in grass-tussocks : it 

 is neatly constructed of twigs, bents, strips of bark, and lichens, or moss ; the 

 lining of willow-catkins, vegetable down, hair, wool, and sometimes feathers. The 

 eggs number from five to six, and vary in colour from pale greenish to pale bluish, 

 with dark brown surface-spots, and paler red-brown underlying markings. 



Although there is no satisfactory evidence to prove that the Mealy Redpoll 

 has ever bred in Great Britain, a male in breeding-plumage was observed at 

 Riddlesworth, in July, 1848, and noticed by Prof. Alfred Newton in the "Zoologist" 

 (p. 2382) ; still this bird may possibly have escaped from an out-door aviary after 

 a few months confinement. 



The song of this species, if such it can be called, is merely a prolonged 

 trill, such as may be imitated either by vibrating the soft palate as you whistle, 

 or by using a pea-whistle, and the call-note somewhat resembles that of the Canary, 

 a kind of tewey. 



The favourite food consists of seed of the birch, but many other seeds are 

 eaten, and in confinement the same food is eaten by the Redpolls as by the Canary; 

 the most wholesome seeds being Canary, German rape, and oats. Curiously enough, 

 aviculturists do not appear to be aware of the fact that most seed-eating birds are 

 fond of the last-mentioned wholesome and cheap seed, and they quite laugh at the 



