MOUNTAIN LINNET. 571 



Sir William Jardine sends me word that the Mountain 

 Linnet is abundant in the north Highlands, taking the place 

 there in summer of the Common Linnet, L. cannabina, in 

 the Lowlands. Once or twice, this gentleman observes, I 

 have seen a flock here during the winter, frequenting wild 

 stubble land. Last winter I shot a pair within a few 

 hundred yards of Jardine Hall, evidently driven in by the 

 storm. They were feeding on the heads of the black 

 knap- weed, Centaurea nigra. 



Mi\ Selby "found it a plentiful species, and generally 

 distributed in Sutherlandshire. It was first met with at 

 Laing, and afterwards occurred at all the different stations 

 that were occupied. Its song was pleasing, though scarcely 

 equal in compass to that of L. cannabina" 



The Rev. Mr. Low states in his Fauna Orcadensis, " that 

 this little bird remains in the Orkneys all the year, building 

 in the heath, but seldom or ever in bushes."" Mr. J. D. 

 Salmon, who furnished to Mr. Loudon's Magazine of 

 Natural History an account of a visit to the Orkneys, has 

 remarked, "That the Mountain Linnet was the only 

 species of Linnet seen by the party ; two nests came under 

 our observation, one was placed upon the ground, among 

 the young corn, the other amidst some whins, Ulex. They 

 were both alike : their out sides were composed of small 

 roots and dried grass ; and their insides lined with a small 

 quantity of hair and a few feathers ; and each contained six 

 eggs, similar in appearance to those of the Common Linnet, 

 but rather smaller." 



Mr. Dunn, in his Ornithologist's Guide to Orkney and 

 Shetland, says of the Mountain Linnet, or, as it is there 

 called, the Heather Lin tee, this, " as far as I am aware, is 

 the only Linnet that breeds in these countries, over which 

 it is pretty numerously dispersed. I have repeatedly taken 

 its nest, which I found in shaded situations amongst long 



