72 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



have heard it, however, as late as 

 August during more than one season. 



THE LINNKT. 



Throughout the pairing time the male 

 birds are wont to alight on the highest 

 sprays of furze and other bushes, where 

 they sing almost incessantly. The 

 " careless lay," as a poet has described 

 it, is frequently poured forth whilst the 

 vocalist is gracefully descending through 

 the air to some favourite perching 

 place. 



The breeding season commences in 



April and is continued as late as July, 

 and even August, when I have found 

 nests containing eggs. Furze bushes 

 form the most favourite sites of all for 

 the nest of the Linnet, but it may be 

 found in young fir trees, heather, juniper 

 and other bushes. I have met with it 

 almost on the ground in the rough 

 herbage growing on a sea-wall, and at 

 a height of twelve feet in an old thorn 

 hedge. It is composed of small twigs, 

 grass stems, and rootlets, with an inner 

 lining of wool, hair, feathers or down. 

 The eggs, numbering from four to six, 

 are greyish white tinged with green or 

 blue, and sparingly spotted with 

 purplish brown. 



Both parent birds engage in the work 

 of feeding the chicks. All the food is 

 brought along in the crop and regurgi- 

 tated. The great anxiety of the old 

 birds to deliver their partly digested 

 caterpillars and other forms of insect 

 life is only equalled by that of their 

 open-mouthed offspring to receive them. 



