THE TWITE OR MOUNTAIN LINNET. 



TWITE'S NEST A 



The song of the cock is a very pleasant 

 little performance, somewhat similar to 

 that of the Linnet, although not equal 

 to it either in strength or sweetness. I 

 have frequently heard the bird singing 

 on the top of a stone wall within a few 

 feet of his mate sitting on her nest in the 

 honeysuckle shown in our illustration. 

 He occasionally 

 varied this kind 

 of exercise by 

 pouring forth his 

 music whilst 

 fluttering 

 through the air 

 from one side 

 of the garden 

 to the other. 



Numbers of 

 male Twites 

 roost every 

 night during the 

 spring amongst 

 some stunted 

 alder bushes 

 growing close to 

 the house of an old friend of mine in the 

 Western Isles, and enliven the whole 

 place each fine evening by a volume 

 of twittering sound. 

 33 



