BIRDS OF NEW YORK 27 1 



mens have been taken in Massachusetts at SWampscott, Revere, Cambridge 

 and Nantasket (see Brewster, Auk, 4: 163); it is also reported by Ridgway 

 and the A. O. U. from Hamilton Beach, Ontario; Chicago, 111.; and from 

 northern Michigan. 



Acanthis linaria linaria (Linnaeus) 

 Redpoll 



Plate 78 



Fringilla linaria Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:182 

 Linaria minor DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 168, fig. 161 

 Acanthis linaria linaria A. D. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 248. 

 No. 528 



lindria, Lat., a linnet 



Description. Small, shaped like a Goldfinch; streaky; tail forked; 

 bill small and sharp-pointed, with conspicuous tufts of bristles over the 

 nostrils. Adult male: Crown bright red; forehead, chin and upper throat 

 blackish; upper parts grayish brown streaked with dusky and whitish, lighter 

 on the rump ; under parts whitish especially the belly and under tail coverts ; 

 sides streaked with dusky; the lower throat, breast and rump rosy pink; 

 whitish wing bars and edgings. Female: Duller, only slightly tinged with 

 pink on the breast and rump. 



Length 5.32 inches; extent 8.25-8.75; wing 2.8; tail 2.32; bill .36; tar- 

 sus .56. 



Distribution. This species inhabits the northern hemisphere, in 

 America breeding from Alaska and northern Ungava, southward to northern 

 Alberta and the islands of the Gulf of St Lawrence; winters in the northern 

 portion of the United States. In New York this species is an irregular 

 winter visitant, undoubtedly occurring every winter, but frequently being 

 very abundant. Winters of unusual abundance were those of 1876, 1878, 

 1882, 1886, 1889, 1898, 1899, 1906, 1908, 1910. The date of arrival varies 

 from the 9th to the 25th of November. It seems to be commonest from 

 about the last week in November till the last of March, although they are 

 frequently seen from the 6th to the 29th of April. Ustially they disappear 

 by the 10th of April. 



Haunts and habits. The Redpoll is most commonly found in birch 

 and alder swamps subsisting on the seeds which it extracts from the stro- 



