THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



on weedy pastures and clover stubbles in quest of the 

 many small seeds that form its food. It also loves the 

 alder- and birch-trees, resorting to them for their seeds. 

 It is a tame and confiding little bird, and assumes many 

 Tit-like attitudes in quest of food. In summer it also 

 eats many insects and larvae, and these form the prin- 

 cipal food of its young. The Lesser Redpole, like so 

 many other Finches, is constantly uttering a twitter- 

 ing call-note, both during flight and whilst on the trees, 

 bushes, or ground. In spring the male utters a short, 

 trilling song, which, however, becomes much less frequent 

 after the young are hatched. But one brood generally is 

 reared in the year, and preparations for this are com- 

 menced in May or June. The tiny nest is very often 

 made in a crotch in some dense low hedge, and is a 

 beautifully rounded cup, formed outwardly of twigs, 

 roots, moss, and dry grass, lined with feathers, vegetable 

 down, hair, and sometimes wool. The five or six eggs 

 are greenish blue, spotted and speckled with purplish 

 brown and pale brown, and occasionally streaked with 

 darker brown. The young and their parents remain in 

 company during the autumn and winter. 



The adult male Redpole has the upper parts rufous 

 brown streaked with dark brown, the wings and tail 

 blackish brown, with pale brown margins ; the middle and 

 greater wing-coverts are broadly tipped and the inner- 

 most secondaries broadly margined with rufous brown ; 

 the crown is crimson, the rump strongly suffused with the 

 same ; the chin and upper throat are dark brown, the 

 remainder of the under parts bufnsh, darkest on the flanks, 

 which are marked with brown, and suffused with crimson 

 on the breast. Bill yellow, darker at the tip ; tarsi and 

 toes brownish black ; irides brown. Length 4! inches. 

 The female has no crimson on the upper parts, and the 

 flush on the breast is barely visible ; the under parts are 

 more streaked, as is still more the case with the nestling, 



