COMMON LINNET. 553 



observes, that in winter these flocks descend to the sea 

 coast, where they continue to reside till returning spring 

 again urges them to pair. 



. The Linnet, generally distributed over England, is also 

 common in Ireland, as I learn from Mr. Thompson ; and 

 Sir William Jardine sends me word that it is common 

 during summer in the whin covers, and occurs in large 

 flocks during winter on the stubbles and fallows : it is 

 found also in the south and east of Scotland. Mr. Selby 

 observed it in summer in Sutherlandshire ; and the Rev. 

 Mr. Low says it is abundant in Orkney and Shetland. 

 The Linnet is an inhabitant of Denmark, Norway, 

 Sweden, and the southern provinces of Russia, where it 

 remains all the year. It is found from thence over the 

 whole of the European Continent to the southward ; 

 it is very common in France, Provence, Spain, and 

 Italy ; it is found in Corfu, Sicily, Malta, Crete, the 

 Levant and at Smyrna ; the Zoological Society have 

 received specimens sent by Keith Abbot, Esq., from Erze- 

 rum, about a hundred miles south-east of Trebizon, on the 

 shores of the Black Sea; and M. Temminck includes it in 

 his Catalogue of the Birds of Japan. 



The male of the Common Linnet in summer has the 

 beak of a bluish lead colour ; the irides hazel ; the feathers 

 of the fore part and top of the head greyish brown at the 

 base, but vermilion red at the tip ; round the eye, the ear- 

 coverts, and back of the neck, greyish brown ; the whole 

 of the back, wings, and upper tail-coverts, uniform rich 

 chestnut brown ; quill-feathers nearly black, with very 

 narrow outer margins of white ; tail-feathers black, with 

 narrow outer edges, and broader inner edges of white ; tail 

 rather forked ; chin and throat a mixture of brown and 

 grey ; breast vermilion red, with a few pale brown feathers 



