THE LESSER RED-POLE FINCH. 53 



sometimes an admixture of wool, if the place affords it. The 

 lining is of vegetable down, taken from the willow, often 

 the small creeping mountain willow, or the thistle, or any 

 other of the composite that have downy ends these last 

 affording the little bird both building materials and food. 

 On some occasions the lining is wool, fine feathers, or animal 

 down but in Britain, at least, vegetable down appears to 

 get the preference, probably from the same places that supply 

 it, supplying food also. 



The birds build late in the season, intermediate between 

 the broods of the common linnets, but rather nearer the 

 time of their latter one. The eggs are four or five, of a 

 pale greenish blue, with brownish orange spots, especially 

 towards the larger ends. In the southern parts of the 

 breeding ground, the young are fledged about the middle or 

 towards the end of June ; but in the north of Scotland they 

 are two or three weeks later ; and in the arctic countries, 

 where the birds are more numerous, they are later still. 



The lesser red-poles live more exclusively upon vegetable 

 matter, even in the breeding season, than the linnets ; and 

 that may be one of the reasons why they do not breed till 

 the seeds of the more early vegetables are ripe. Their 

 assiduity, and the attitudes which they assume while culling 

 their food, are equally amusing ; and they, like all birds that 

 have very great command of themselves on their perch, will 

 allow an observer to watch them closely for a considerable 

 time. They are admirable perchers, and equally expert 

 in preserving their balance ; so that their action resembles 

 that of the bright-crested wrens and the. tits. They hang 

 with the head or the back undermost, as best answers their 

 purpose ; and as they cull the seeds, and sometimes the buds 

 (buds are more firm and farinaceous the colder the climate 

 is), upon the extremities of the most slender twigs, they have 

 often a very unstable perch, but they keep it firmly. It is 



