EUROPEAN LINNET. 91 



EUROPEAN LINNET. 



THIS sweet-voiced little songster is justly held in the highest estimation by all 

 lovers of cage-birds, and, next to the Canary and Goldfinch, is probably the best 

 known of the smaller songsters. His sprightly, melodious voice, docile ways and 

 extreme hardiness when caged, make him a great favorite. Although his plain 

 brown garb cannot be termed handsome ; yet in some cases, when he appears as the 

 Redpoll, the sleek plumage is greatly admired when adorned by the handsome 

 crimson of the forehead. 



The Linnet inhabits most of Europe and Northern Asia, and, during his 

 migrations, appears also in many parts of Africa. The plumage of the bird varies 

 greatly at different ages and seasons of the year, a fact which not only mixes the 

 family up in the greatest confusion, but is also the cause of both numberless mis- 

 takes by ignorant bird-dealers, and of great errors in works of ornithology. The 

 family of Linnets, in these cases, are divided into three classes, which are made 

 separate species from one another, as the Brown Linnet, the Greater Redpoll, and 

 Yellow Linnet. By numerous and careful observations it is proven that these three 

 are one family ; the variations in the colors of the plumage occurring at different 

 seasons of the year, and at the particular ages at which the bird is seen. 



A male Linnet at three years of age, when he has attained his full plumage, and 

 is known as the Redpoll, may be described as follows : The forehead is blood-red, 

 the rest of the head reddish ashen gray, spotted on the poll with black, and on the 

 cheeks, the sides of the neck, and around the eyes, with reddish white. The 

 feathers of the upper part of the back are rusty brown : the lower part is mottled 

 with gray and white. The tail is forked and black ; the four external feathers 

 having on each a deep margin of white, which, in the two centre feathers, is 

 narrower, and tinged with red. 



After the autumnal moulting, the red on the forehead disappears, and the same 

 hue on the breast becomes less conspicuous : the colors, however, recover their 

 brilliancy in the course of the winter. 



Males of one year old have no red feathers on the head ; but, instead, the black 

 spots are more numerous. The breast is light rust color throughout : the rust color 

 of the back is also spotted with dark brown and reddish white. Such birds are 

 known as Brown or Gray Linnets. 



After the second moulting, specks of blood-red may be observed on the under 

 sipe of the reddish-gray feathers ; and the red of the breast is concealed only by the 

 broad, yellowish white margins of the feathers. These birds are called Yellow 

 Linnets. Bird-sellers sometimes give the name of Yellow Linnets to those birds 



