42 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



heather-twigs intermixed. The nest is generally placed high 

 up in a fir-tree, and is difficult to find. 



Eggs. Five or six in number, exactly like those of the Gold- 

 finch in size and markings. 



THE LINNETS. GENUS CANNABINA.* 

 Cannabina, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 1277. 

 Type, C. cannabina (Linn.). 



The bill in the present genus is shorter and stouter than in 

 the Goldfinches and Siskins, though of the same pointed 

 shape. The absence of yellow in their plumage is another 

 character of the Linnets, which have most of them a red top- 

 knot or cap, as well as some red on the breast and rump, in 

 the nesting season at least. 



THE TWITE. CANNABINA FLAVIROSTRIS. 



Fringilla flavirostris, Linn., S. N., i., p. 322 (1766); Lilford, 



Col. Fig. Brit. B., pt. xiii. (1890). 

 Linaria flavirostris, Macg., Br. B., i., p. 379 (1837). 

 Linota flavirostris, Dresser, B. Eur., iv., p. 59, pi. 191 (1876); 



Newt. ed. Yarrell, ii., p. 160 (1877); B. O. U. List 



Br. B., p. 54(1883). 

 Acanthis flavirostris, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., xii., p. 236 



(1888) ; Saunders, Man., p. 185 (1889). 



Adult Male. Distinguished from the common Linnet by its 

 dusky yellow bill. Brown above, streaked with blackish cen- 

 tres to the feathers ; the head like the back, without any 

 red cap ; breast and abdomen white, the throat reddish brown 

 with darker streaks ; rump rosy ; no red on the breast ; bill 

 yellow ; feet blackish ; iris brown. Total length, 5 inches ; 

 oilmen, 0-35 ; wing, 3-0; tail, 2-3; tarsus, 0-65. 



* Dr. Sclater having shown (Ibis, 1892, p. 555) that the generic name 

 of Acanthis, Bechst., which I used for the Linnets in the " Catalogue 

 of Birds," cannot properly be employed for these birds, being in fact a 

 synonym of Carduelis, the next name in order of date is Linaria of Vieillot 

 (1816). This generic name, however, is pre-occupied in Botany, and so 

 the next in order of date is Cantiabina of Boie (1828). 



