192 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



increased in numbers in winter time by strangers from 

 lands where the snow lies too deep for them to procure 

 their food, and where the cold is so keen that it is un- 

 bearable. 



The Redpoll may always be distinguished from the 

 Linnet by its small size and peculiar notes, and by the 

 ruby-coloured patch of plumage on the crown of the 

 head, from which it takes its name. 



In the summer months the majority of Redpolls 

 retire northwards to breed : still I often find his nest in 

 the hedgerows, or in the young fir plantations. A tiny 

 little structure it is, placed in some convenient crotch, 

 like the Chaffinch's, and made of moss, sometimes a 

 few slender twigs, rootlets, and dry grass, and lined with 

 feathers and the down from the willow tree and other 

 plants. It is seldom found completed^ before the latter 

 end of May, and the eggs, about the size of a Willow 

 Warbler's, are four or five in number, greenish-blue in 

 ground colour, spotted with purplish-red, and sometimes 

 streaked with deep brown. The Cuckoo will sometimes 

 pay the Redpoll a visit, and deposit an egg, which the 

 little birds tend with as much care as their own. When 

 the young are hatched, if you approach their nest, the 

 old birds become very anxious for their safety. They 

 flit from spray to spray, now alighting in the neighbour- 

 ng trees, and then flying round your head, all the time 

 keeping up an incessant chorus of twittering notes. 

 During the nesting season the male bird occasionally 

 utters a short and pleasing song, but when the young 

 are reared his notes cease to be heard, unless, indeed, he 

 may have a second brood ; but this I doubt, for as they 

 breed so late in season, and are seen in flocks in August, 

 there is no time for one. 



As soon as the young are reared the Redpoll be- 



