50 GRAMINIVOILE. 



if they are taken in the flocking time, they retain the brown 

 plumage in their moults ; and if they are captured in the 

 summer, which, from the wildness of their haunts and the 

 wild habits of the birds, is not a very common case, they 

 lose the red on the first moult, and never regain it after- 

 wards. In summer, too, the female is very apt to be mis- 

 taken for the male. When one comes suddenly upon him, 

 attracted by his song, which in the wilds is particularly 

 cheerful, he instantly drops into the bush, before his plumage 

 can be very carefully noticed ; and if one beats the bush, out 

 hops a brown bird, the female, and gets credit for the song 

 of her mate. 



The deception, or the mistake, is farther increased by the 

 male ceasing his song and raising his alarm-call as soon as 

 lie is seen, and until he disappears in the bush, for he does 

 not generally fly out ; but the female does, and, as is the 

 habit of the female in many birds, she offers herself to the 

 enemy, that is, tempts him by short flights, to wile him 

 away from the nest ; and when the coast is clear, she again 

 flies into the bush, chirping softly the note of safety ; and 

 soon after the male resumes his song. Thus, though it is 

 the male that is heard, it is the female that is most frequently 

 seen. 



Linnets inhabit a little higher, or more inland, more into 

 the open wild, than chaflinches ; and they prefer the closest 

 low bushes for their nesting places. Their general distri- 

 bution, however, renders that species of accommodation not 

 always accessible ; and hence the nests are sometimes found 

 in garden-bushes, in hedges, or in low bushy trees. The 

 nest is composed externally of dry leaves and fibres, mixed 

 with wool or hair, and lined with the same, or with feathers. 

 The eggs are from four to six, of a .dingy bluish white, with 

 short lines and numerous specks of flesh-colour. There are 

 usually two broods in the season ; the first hatch taking 



