148 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



In the course of my reading, I have not met with any lines by our 

 poetical writers addressed to this bird in a state of liberty, although 

 in its every-day life it is not a less attractive subject than many of 

 the commoner birds that have been so commemorated. I close, 

 therefore, with a fragment from an address to a dead linnet by a 

 solitary student, whose pen, I venture to think, could, if so directed, 

 have well expressed its habits before it became the 



" Friend in hours of lonely thought, 

 And studious toil through the unresting day." 



The lines were sent to me by Mr William Logan of Kilbirnio, 

 himself the author of many amiable verses*: 



" The secret bustle of thy frequent meal, 

 Like elfin working mischief, all unseen 

 At bottom of thy cage; thy dipping bill 

 Oft splashing sportive o'er the learned tome, 

 And rousing my 'rapt soul to homelier themes; 

 The tuning twitter, snatch'd and interrupt 

 The timorous essay low and querulous 

 The strain symphonious and the full burst of song, 

 That made my study walls re-echo sweet 

 The harmonious peal, while all its tattered maps 

 And prints unframed, responsive tremblings gave; 

 All these are past, and joy takes wing with thee." 



THE MEALY EEDPOLE. 

 LI NOT A CANESCENS. 



Is of irregular and uncertain occurrence only. Some seasons pass 

 without any being seen, while in others they are frequently ob- 

 tained. The winter of 1863-64 maybe noted as one in which 

 this species was comparatively common, numbers having been 

 taken by the bird-catchers even in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. 

 Six specimens were seen in the outskirts of the city in 1861, two 

 of which were caught with bird-lime. The season was a very 

 severe one. Mr Tottenham Lee found several specimens in Kirk- 

 cudbrightshire in 1854, and in 1868 Mealy Redpoles were again 

 taken in that county and in Dumfriesshire, and sent to the Glas- 



* Died 20th February, 1869. 



