252 THE LINNET. 



Attractive Qualities. The chirping song of the Tree Sparrow, 

 when heard among the notes of other Cage-birds, is not dis- 

 agreeable. It may be tamed like the House Sparrow, but 

 does not live so long in confinement, usually dying of decline. 



ADDITIONAL. This pretty and lively bird, which is sometimes 

 called the Mountain Sparrow, is with us somewhat rare, and of 

 local distribution ; it does not appear to have been observed fur- 

 ther northward than Newcastle. In many of its habits, as well 

 as in appearance, it greatly resembles the House Sparrow, for 

 which it is no doubt frequently mistaken. Its common call note, 

 too, is not unlike that of the last named bird, being a monotonous 

 chirp, somewhat more high and shrill, however. Of its song, 

 Mr. BLTTH says that " it consists of a number of these chirps, 

 intermixed with some pleasing notes delivered in a continuous, 

 unbroken stream, sometimes for many minutes together, very 

 loudly, but having a characteristic Sparrow -like tone throughout." 



According to SELBT, it is a bird of retired habits, and is never 

 (say not often) found to frequent villages or other dwellings, like 

 the common species, but is generally to be met with where old 

 trees (particularly pollards, hollowed by decay) are abundant, as 

 in the holes of these it finds a congenial retreat, and proper situ- 

 ation for its nest, of which the materials are hay and straw, inter- 

 mixed with a lining of feathers." 



These birds have been known to build in the thatch of a barn, 

 in company with the House Sparrow, and also to occupy the 

 deserted nests of Magpies and Crows, and the hollow of a tree 

 which had once been the home of the Woodpecker. 



107. THE LINNET. 



Fringilla Cannabina et Linota, LIN. Linotte, BUF. Der Hanflmg, BECH. 

 Description. This well-known bird is more than five inches 

 in length, of which the tail measures two inches and a quarter. 

 The beak is six lines long, dirty blue in summer, and in win- 

 ter whitish grey, tipped with brown. The iris is dark brown ; 

 the feet are black, and eight lines in height. The plumage of 

 the male Linnet varies exceedingly at different ages and sea- 

 sons of the year, a fact which not only leads to mistakes and 

 unfair dealing on the part of bird-sellers, but has produced 

 great confusion in works on ornithology. My own observations, 

 which have been very carefully made and extend over a period 

 of many years, have resulted in the conclusion that the Com- 

 mon Linnet (Fringilla Linota, LIN.), the Greater Eedpole (Frin- 



