LESSER REDPOLL. 



149 



to holts of alders, birches and willows, is not at all exclusive 

 in its choice of them for its breeding-quarters, and, besides 

 selecting coppice or underwood, will quickly avail itself of 

 the accommodation offered by young plantations of larches, 

 firs or trees of almost any kind, as well as of shrubberies. 

 Some shelter however is always needed, and Mr. Gray says 

 that among the Hebrides he has been unable to trace it 

 where such is absent. From Saxby's silence on the subject 

 it would seem not to breed in Shetland possibly from the 

 same cause. Ths vicinity of water is generally preferred, 

 but its actual proximity is not absolutely essential, and the 

 distance of a mile or so from where it can be procured is no 

 bar to an otherwise eligible situation*. Such a spot is often 

 frequented by several or many pairs of these birds, which 

 will have their nests within the compass of a few yards, and 

 in that case the actions of the birds soon make the existence 

 of the settlement evident to an ordinary observer. But they 

 are by no means always gregarious even to this extent, and 

 single pairs may be found taking up their abode apart, 

 while again considerable numbers will often meet at places 

 far from their nests, apparently prompted only by their 

 social instincts for they do not seem to be in search of 

 food, and, after passing half-an-hour or more in company, 

 will separate and go their respective ways. The nest is 

 usually built in a low tree or bush, but occasionally at a very 

 considerable height, and on the other hand an humble site 

 among heather may be chosen. It is nearly always a structure 

 of the most delicate beauty, formed outwardly of a few fine 

 twigs as a foundation, on which are placed dry grass-stems, 

 sometimes intermixed with moss and wool, the thinner stalks 

 being innermost, and is lined with vegetable-down, that from 

 the catkins of the willow being most often used, with the 

 addition or substitution sometimes of hair and feathers. 

 The whole nest is about an inch and a half in diameter and 



* In a district very ill-supplied with water where these Redpolls have occa- 

 sionally bred in abundance, the Editor has found that waiting by a pond-side for 

 them to come to drink, and then marking the line of their return-flight, often 

 leads to the discovery of their nest. 



