Common Linnet. 205 



, ' I chirp shrilly/ and was the name given to a small bird 

 commonly eaten at Athens, from its shrill piping cry. Siskin says 

 Professor Skeat, is a Swedish word meaning 'chirper' or ' piper/ 



86. COMMON LINNET (Linota cannabina). 



Extremely numerous throughout this county, more particularly 

 on our downs, where they congregate in autumn in large flocks. 

 In summer the old birds assume a red breast and red forehead, 

 but this is only a nuptial plumage, which they lose when the 

 breeding season is over, exchanging it for the more sober brown 

 in which they are commonly arrayed. This change of dress 

 caused much confusion among our earlier ornithologists, who 

 mistook the bird in summer and winter plumage for two distinct 

 species, and they named the former the Redpole, the latter the 

 Gray Linnet ; and this was another error which our countryman 

 Montagu was the first to discover and rectify. It is a joyous 

 gentle bird, quite harmless, and a sweet songster ; and (Yarrell 

 informs us) derives its name Linota, 'laLinotte/ 'Linnet,' from 

 its partiality to the seeds of the various species of flax (linum) ; 

 from whence also comes Cannabina, which has the same 

 signification, from Kawdftis, 'flax' or 'hemp;' and in Sweden, 

 Hdmpling. This is another species which, within my experience, 

 is sensibly and even rapidly diminishing in numbers, in con- 

 sequence of the waste places and commons, where thistles 

 and weeds luxuriated, and which were its favourite haunts, 

 having been now brought into cultivation. In France it is 

 La grande Linotte de vignes ; in Germany, Bluthaw fling ; in 

 Sweden, Hdmpling; in Italy, Montanello maggiore ; and in 

 Spain, Camacho. 



87. TWITE (Linota montana). 



1 did not include this species in my former papers on the 

 Ornithology of Wilts, for the sufficient reason that I was not 

 then convinced of its occurrence within the county. Now, how- 

 ever, I gladly admit it, on the evidence of the Rev. A. P. Morres, 

 of whose practical acquaintance with the birds of his locality L 



