LESSER REDPOLL 141 



The song of the redpoll is described by Seebohm as a short, 

 monotonous trill, clear, shrill, and not unmusical ; and he adds that 

 ' it might be said to resemble the rattling of loose cog-wheels.' It 

 breeds in suitable localities, chiefly in birch-woods in Scotland, and in 

 England north of Norfolk and Leicester. It also breeds occasionally 

 in more southern localities. The nest is made of dry grass and 

 moss on a foundation of slender twigs, and is well lined with vege- 

 table down, or with wool and feathers. It is a very neat, cup -shaped 

 nest, and contains four to six eggs, greenish blue hi ground-colour, 

 with spots and specks of purplish brown. 



After the breeding season the redpolls begin to scatter about the 

 country in small flocks ; as autumn approaches these flocks increase 

 in size, and a southward movement begins, large numbers crossing 

 the Channel. Many, however, remain to winter at home, and these 

 may be met with in woods and plantations, leading a vagrant life 

 in small flocks, and often associating on the trees with titmice, gold- 

 crests, and siskins. 



Twite. 



Linota flavirostris. 



Upper parts dark brown, the feathers edged with light brown ; 

 rump (of the male) tinged with red ; throat tawny brown ; breast 

 and belly dull white, streaked on the flanks with dark brown ; beak 

 yellow ; feet dark brown. Length, five and a quarter inches. 



The twite, or mountain-linnet, is a bird of the mountain and 

 moorland, and of the north, being most abundant in the Hebrides ; 

 but it also breeds in hilly districts throughout Scotland, and in 

 suitable localities in the northern and midland counties. In the 

 south it is a winter visitor, and is then found associating with the 

 linnet, which it very closely resembles hi flight, habits, and- appear- 

 ance ; when near it may be distinguished by its shriller voice, and 

 by its longer tail, which makes it look slimmer. In its song, too, 

 the twite resembles the linnet, and, like that bird, occasionally 

 sings on the wing ; but its music is wanting in the finer sounds 

 just as its plumage is without the lovely carmine tint of the other 

 species. 



The nest is placed in a bunch of heather, or beneath it, on the 

 ground, and sometimes in a furze-bush. It is made of dry grass, 



