TWITE. 161 



1816, p. 27), the application of the name might still be 

 doubtful. In the meanwhile other authors, Brisson and 

 Pennant among them, had more fully described the species, 

 and some years later J. F. Gmelin in his compilation con- 

 ferred the name Fringilla montium on their bird without 

 perceiving that it was identical with F. flavirostris. For 

 this perhaps he is not much to be blamed, but his diagnosis 

 is altogether inapplicable, and, though his appellation has been 

 generally used by British writers, we need feel no compunc- 

 tion in setting it aside for that which had been before given. 



The Mountain-Linnet, as many writers of books have called 

 it, though for nearly a century at least it has been far more 

 generally known to those most conversant with it as the 

 Twite, is only a visitor to the eastern and southern parts of 

 England, where it is generally seen in small flocks, which, 

 arriving in autumn, sometimes stop for the winter in favour- 

 able situations, but mostly pass on and may again be observed 

 on their return -journey in spring. In the south-west, Devon- 

 shire and Cornwall, it is of very rare occurrence indeed*, 

 but it breeds in some abundance in the more hilly districts 

 of the Midland Counties Hereford, Salop, Stafford, Derby 

 and Chester, as well as in North Wales and the Isle of Man, 

 and on elevated moorlands in the higher glens with increas- 

 ing frequency northward from Lancashire and the West 

 Biding of Yorkshire to Shetland, though in some districts it 

 is rather scarce, and its stronghold in the west of Scotland is 

 the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland it is found from north to 

 south, and probably breeds in suitable localities throughout 

 the island, but the only counties in which the Editor can yet 

 say that it does so are Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh and Antrim 

 in the north, Sligo and Mayo in the west, Dublin and 

 Wicklow in the east, and Tipperary and Cork in the south. 



In food, flight and general habits the Twite very closely 

 resembles the Linnet, which it partly or wholly replaces in 

 some of the wilder or more mountainous districts of these 

 islands, and much that has been said of that species applies 



* Mr. More was informed that the nest had been found in the north of Dorset- 

 shire, but this is very unlikely. 



VOL. IT. l r 



