PASSERINE. Q71 
obtuse than in the Goldfinches. They feed on seeds of plants; those of 
flax and hemp in particular, and are easily kept imprisoned. 
There are some species in Europe, brown, tinted with red, which are 
more peculiarly styled Linnets. The quantity of red in the young birds 
and females is very various, and sometimes is totally wanting. The bill 
of the first is almost as pointed as that of the Goldfinch. It is, 
Fr. linaria, L.; The Siserin; Enl. 485, 2; Vieill. Gal. 65; Naum. 
126. (The Redpoll). Brown, spotted with black above; two white 
bands across the wing; black throat; tcp of the head, as well as the 
breast of the adult male, red; the rump is sometimes of the same 
colour. A northern bird, of which it is supposed two races have 
lately been detected, a large and a small one*. 
Fr. cannabina, L.; Enl. 485,1; Naum. 121. (The Linnet). 
Back, fawn-coloured brown; quills of the wing and tail, black, edged 
with white; whitish underneath; a fine red on the head and breast 
of the old male; bill grey. Builds among vines, bushes, &c. 
An intermediate species, most nearly allied however to the second, 
Fring. montium, Gm., Naum. 122, is occasionally seen from the 
North. Its bill is yellow, and there is some red on the rump of the 
male. 
There are other species more or less greenish, which are called by the 
French Serins or Tarins. The 
Fring. spinus, L.; Tarin commun, Enl. 485, 3; Naum. 125. 
(The Siskin). Also has a bil! more like that of the Goldfinch, and 
is even similar in many points to the Redpoll. It is of an olive co- 
lour above; yellow beneath; calotte, wings and tail, black; two yel- 
low bands on the wing. It builds on the very summits of the tallest 
pines. 
The other species have the shorter bill of the Linnet. 
woe 
Fring. citrinella, L.; Le Venturon, Enl. 658, 2; Vieill. Gal. 62; 
‘Naum. 124, 3, 4. Olive above; yellowish beneath; back of the 
head and neck ash coloured. 
Fring. serinus, L.; Le Cini, Enl. 658, 1; Naum. 123. Olive 
above; yellowish beneath; spotted with brown; a yellow band on 
the wing. Two birds from the mountains of the south of Europe, 
about the size of the Fr. spinus. 
Fring. canaria, L.; Enl. 202, 1. (The Canary Bird). Is larger, 
and the facility with which it breeds, in a state of confinement, toge- 
ther with its melodious and powerful song, have disseminated it every 
where, and caused it to vary so much in colour, that it is difficult to 
ascertain its original hue. It mixes with most of the other species 
of this genus, and often produces hybrids with them, which are more 
or less fruitful}. 
* See the Mem. de M. Vieillot, Acad. de Turin, tom. xxiii, p. 193, et seq. 
}+ Among the birds foreign to Europe, which cannot be distinguished from the 
Linnets by any generic character, we place, Fring. lepida ;—Fr. tristis, Enl. 202, 2; 
—Fr. ictera, Enl. 364;—Fr. nitens, Enl. 224;—F. senegalla, Vaill. Ois. ch. pl. ix;— 
F. amandava, Enl. 115, 2 and 38;—F. granatina, Enl. 109, 3;—#. bengalus ;—F. ango- 
