46 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Acanthis tinaria, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., xii., p. 245 (1888); 

 Saunders, Man., p. 181 (1889). 



Adult Male. Light brown above, with dark brown streaks ; 

 forehead crimson ; wing-coverts tipped with white, forming 

 wing-bars ; chin blacltish ; throat, fore-neck, and breast beau- 

 tiful rosy-pink, the feathers generally edged with hoary white ; 

 rump ashy white, streaked with blackish, and slightly tinged 

 with rosy ; bill yellow, with the tip brown ; feet and claws 

 blackish ; iris hazel-brown. Total length, 5*2 inches ; culmen, 

 o'4 ; wing, 2*85 ; tail, 2*05 ; tarsus, 0*6. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male, but lacking the crimson 

 forehead and the rose-colour on the breast and rump ; chin 

 and upper throat black; remainder of under surface white, 

 with blackish streaks on the side of the body. Total length, 

 5 inches; culmen, 0-35; wing, 275; tail, 2-05; tarsus, 0-55. 



Range in Great Britain. A winter visitor from Shetland south 

 along the east coast of Scotland and England, but less re- 

 gular in occurrence in the south and Midlands. In some 

 seasons considerable flocks arrive, and we have known the 

 Mealy Redpoll to occur in some numbers in the Thames 

 Valley in winter. They are then found in company with Lesser 

 Redpolls, from which they may be distinguished by their 

 much larger size, especially as regards the feet. 



Range outside the British Islands. Throughout Northern 

 Europe to the limits of the birch-region, across Siberia and 

 North America, but replaced in Greenland by Cannabina 

 rostrata, a large race of Mealy Redpoll, with a larger bill and 

 coarser stripes on the under surface. 



Habits. Frequenting the birch and alder trees, the seeds of 

 which form its principal food, in company with Common Red- 

 polls and Siskins. 



Ifest. Cup-shaped ; composed of bents and shreds of bark 

 with lichens ; lined with catkins, hair, and feathers. 



Eggs. Five or six, resembling those of the Linnet, but with a 

 deeper blue ground and, of course, much smaller in size ; the 

 reddish shading at the larger ends often clouded with tiny spots 

 of reddish brown and dots and lines of purplish black. In a. 



