308 OUE NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



proacliing danger, so tliat one may easily observe 

 them. The bird is not, however, always so inno- 

 cently employed as in stripping the willow catkin 

 of its down, or the alder or thistle of its seeds, 

 for it injm'es the trees by eating their young 

 buds. 



This smallest of our linnets is, like the common 

 species, a sweet and gentle little bird. Audubon 

 remarks of the redpoles, " It was pleasing to see 

 several on a twig, feeding each other by passing 

 a seed from bill to bill, one individual sometimes 

 receiving from his two neighbours at the same 

 time." It is sometimes called the Eose Linnet. 



The Mealy Linnet (Linota canescens), some- 

 times called the Mealy Redpole, is so similar to 

 the bird just described, that it is still a matter 

 of dispute whether it is not of the same species. 

 It is properly an inhabitant of the northern 

 regions of both hemispheres. Many of these birds, 

 however, visit om* island in flocks during the 

 winter, and are caught by the London bird- 

 catcher. It is a pleasing and gentle bird, but its 

 song is weak. 



Among our commonest birds may be mentioned 

 that pre,tty species, the Greenfinch, or Green 



