168 NEW- YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



GENUS LINARIA. Ray. 

 Bill short, conical, higher than broad at the base, very acute at the tip. 



THE LESSER RED-POLL. 



LlNARIA MINOR. 

 PLATE LXX. FIG. 161. 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Fringilla linaria. Linnjeus, 12 ed. p. 322. 



Letter Red-poll Finch. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 1, p. 379. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 4, p. 42, pi. 30, fig. K 



■v, (male) ; Vol. 9 (Ord's reprint), p. 294. 



F . (Carduelis) id. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 1 12. Audubon, fol. pi. 375. 

 Linata id. Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, p. 34. Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 1, p. 512. 

 Linaria minor. Rich. & Swainson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 267. Kirtland, Zool. Ohio, p. 183. Peabody, Mass. 



Rep. p. 328. Audubon, B. of A. Vol. 3, p. 122, pi. 179. 

 Linaria id. Giraud, Birds of Long island, p. 116. 



Characteristics. Greyish, varied with black and rufous above ; beneath dusky white. 

 Frontlet and chin blackish. Head, neck, breast and rump crimson. 

 Female : crown alone crimson. Length, 5 • 0. 



Description. The first three quills subequal ; the second longest. Tail with its acuminate 

 feathers long, and deeply forked. 



Color. Frontlet, loral space and throat varying from brownish to black. Back of the head, 

 neck, back and scapulars brown ; toward the rump, edged with white and tipped with crim- 

 son. Wings and tail dusky, edged with greyish brown, and with two bands of the same on 

 the tips of the coverts. Sides, front of the neck, and the breast crimson. Belly, vent and 

 under tail-coverts white, tipped with crimson ; flanks streaked with dusky. Female, brown 

 above varied with black. Tail-feathers margined all round with whitish : frontlet dark greyish ; 

 chin black ; throat dusky brown ; breast and flanks striate with brown. Young : head grey. 



Length, 5-0-5-3. Alar spread, 8 • - 8 • 5. 



This little arctic species migrates from the north (where it occupies both continents) in the 

 winter, along the Atlantic, as far south as Pennsylvania, and in the interior to Ohio and Ken- 

 tucky. Their appearance is an evidence of extreme cold at the north. In this State it occurs 

 every winter, and affords a rich treat to epicures. Feeds on berries, the seeds of grasses 

 and of the pine, and also their buds. Eggs pale bluish green, with a few reddish spots at the 

 larger end. 



