Conspicuously Red of any Shade 



The Redpoll 



(AcantMs linaria) Finch family 



Called also: REDPOLL LINNET; LITTLE SNOWBIRD; 

 LESSER REDPOLL 



Length *). 2*) to 5.5 inches. About an inch shorter than the Eng- 

 lish sparrow. 



Mate A rich crimson wash on head, neck, breast, and lower 

 back, that is sometimes only a pink when we see the bird in 

 midwinter. Grayish-brown, sparrowy feathers show under- 

 neath the red wash. Dusky wings and tail, the feathers 

 more or less edged with whitish. Soiled white underneath ; 

 the sides with dusky streaks. Bill sharply pointed. 



Female More dingy than male, sides more heavily streaked, and 

 having crimson only on the crown. 



J?angeAn arctic bird that descends irregularly into the northern 

 United States. 



Migrations An irregular winter visitor. 



"Ere long, amid the cold and powdery snow, as it were a 

 fruit of the season, will come twittering a flock of delicate crim- 

 son-tinged birds, lesser redpolls, to sport and feed on the buds 

 just ripe for them on the sunny side of a wood, shaking down 

 the powdery snow there in their cheerful feeding, as if it were 

 high midsummer to them." Thoreau's beautiful description of 

 these tiny winter visitors, which should be read entire, shows 

 the man in one of his most sympathetic, exalted moods, and it is 

 the best brief characterization of the redpoll that we have. 



When the arctic cold becomes too cruel for even the snow- 

 birds and crossbills to withstand, flocks of the sociable little red- 

 polls f ying southward are the merest specks in the sullen, gray 

 sky, when they can be seen at all. So high do they keep that 

 often they must pass above our heads without our knowing it. 

 First we see a quantity of tiny dots, like a shake of pepper, in the 

 cloud above, then the specks grow larger and larger, and finally 

 the birds seem to drop from the sky upon some tall tree that they 

 completely cover a veritable cloudburst of birds. Without 

 pausing to rest after the long journey, down they flutter into the 

 weedy pastures with much cheerful twittering, to feed upon 

 whatever seeds may be protruding through the snow. Every 



222 



