THE LESSER REDPOLL IN SUSSEX. 21 



ties within easy touch of Horsham where this sprightly 

 and engaging Finch rears its young annually ; but, be it 

 noted, in varying numbers, for in some years (such as, for 

 instance, 1905 and 1908) it is much more plentiful than 

 in others. 



These Sussex Lesser Redpolls affect several quite 

 different nesting haunts. But they are very local, and 

 their presence is, of course, subject to that of trees in 

 more or less abundance. Among favourite haunts are 

 the alders, swaying till they meet over those sluggish 

 streams which connect with, or flow out of, many of our big 

 mill pools ; the shrubberies and ornamental grounds of 

 country mansions; long " strippy " plantations of 

 saplings ; hedgerows ; " shaws " intersecting common 

 land with their outlying, self-sown conifers ; and, lastly, 

 thinly-planted larch plantations of fair growth. I am 

 intimate with one such small planting of about an acre 

 in extent, growing on a bracken-decked slope, which some 

 years harbours as many as six pairs. Thus it will be 

 seen that there is no fixed rule for the haunt. But it is 

 well worth remarking that nearly all the resorts, if not 

 actually by a pond or stream, are in damp spots where 

 the ground is seldom indeed anything but inclining to the 

 boggy. And a great many haunts are close to a road. 

 I have located many a pair as I have walked or cycled 

 slowly along the highway, for the Lesser Redpoll draws 

 attention to its haunt by continually flying about in the 

 air, trilling and twittering the while. 



Indeed, during the entire summer the Lesser Redpoll 

 gives much of its leisure to the air. One minute it alights 

 in some tree — it is particularly enamoured of conifers — 

 usually near, if not on, its actual summit, whence, after 

 two or three minutes breathing space, it flits off, as it 

 were, aimlessly flying to and fro for a stretch of a hundred 

 yards perhaps, and ever and anon undertaking far longer 

 journeys, and while it flies it trills. 



These love-flights are nearly always conducted at an 

 altitude of about twenty feet or so above the tree-tops, 



