THE LINNET. 301 



been unfairly taken from its own meal. It is 

 probably because of the number of flax-seeds con- 

 sumed by this bird, that the linnet received its 

 names. Thus, Linota, Linaria, La Linotte, and 

 our English linnet, may all have been derived 

 from Lmuon, flax. 



This bird builds among the furze or brambles, 

 and its nest is made of mosses and gTass-stalks, 

 intermingled with wool, and lined with feathers and 

 hairs ; the eggs are of bluish white, speckled with 

 purplish red. The parent birds show much affec- 

 tion for their young, the male linnet cheering his 

 mate with a continual song, and uttering a cry so 

 plaintive, on any apparent danger, that none but 

 the thoughtless or hard-hearted could persist in 

 an intrusion. Any danger to the nest and its con- 

 tents will agitate the linnet most violently. It 

 will flit from bush to bush, then disappear; then 

 return again, quite tremulous with emotion. 

 Sometimes, when the birds are greatly alarmed, 

 during the period of incubation, they will both 

 fly from the nest, and remain absent for an hour ; 

 but never after the young are hatched will the 

 mother bird forsake her family so long as it re- 

 quires her care. 



