Redpoll SONG-BIRDS. 



Song : Winter note ; a snapping chirp. 



Season : An irregular winter visitor. 



Breeds : Northward in late winter and early spring. 



Nest : Among the twigs or in the fork of a tree, having a base of bark 



and sticks, and being lined with finer materials. 

 Eggs : 3-4, greenish, marked with brown and lilac at larger end. 

 Mange: Northern North America; resident sparingly south in the 



Eastern States to Maryland and Tennessee, and in the Alle- 



ghanies ; irregularly abundant in winter ; resident south in the 



Rocky Mountains to Colorado. 



This bird of evergreens and cold weather, the Red Cross- 

 bill, is chiefly a winter visitor here, varying greatly in abun- 

 dance. It is impossible to confuse it with any other bird, 

 as the colour is of a different shade from the red of the 

 Pine Finch and Cardinal, and its warped bill is a distinctive 

 mark. The beak seems especially constructed for snapping 

 the scales from the cones, whose seeds furnish its food. 



A very strange effect is produced when a flock of Cross- 

 bills settle in the pines north of the garden, and mingle 

 their snapping chirp with the dry crackling of the cones 

 that they are dissecting. There is a suppressed bustle about 

 the whole proceeding ; and if you close your eyes you may 

 imagine that the sounds proceed from the rending of the 

 corn from the stalk at an old time husking-bee. As with 

 all weird looking birds and animals, the Crossbill is the 

 subject of many tales, one of which Longfellow translated 

 from the German of Julius Mosen, under the title of " The 

 Legend of the Crossbill." 



Redpoll : Acanthis linaria. 



Redpoll Linnet. 

 Length: 5.50 inches. 

 Male : Head, neck, breast, and rump washed with rich crimson, over 



a ground of gray and brown. Back, wings, and tail dusky ; 



dusky white beneath. Tail short and forked ; wings long and 



pointed. Bill very sharp, and either yellow, tipped with dusky, 



or black ; feet dark. 



Female : Dingy, having the crimson only on the crown. 

 Song : A Canary-like call note and a lisping song ; sometimes given 



when flocking as well as in the breeding-season. 

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