FINCHES. 



387 



The linnets have a hard and conical bill, a somewhat pointed 

 Linnets. 1 "■"-■• u, -- , - t 



wing, the tail rather long and forked, the metatarsus short, and the 



toes stout. They are also characterised by the possession of a nearly uniform 



brown or whitish brown plumage, generally associated to some small extent with 



pale crimson. Chiefly found in the northern parts of the Old World, they are 



also represented in the Arctic portions of North America. 



The common linnet (Linaria cannabina) inhabits most parts of 

 Common Linnet. . / x 



Europe, being generally common from Spam eastwards to Central 



Asia, although assuming brighter plumage in Turkestan and other distant parts of 

 its range. The linnet in England frequents commons covered with gorse, in which 

 its nest is often placed ; but sometimes it nests in a hedge or small tree. Generally 

 an early breeder, we have seen the young in the nest as late as the month of 

 August. It builds a loose, untidy nest of fine twigs and fibres lined with hair, 

 wool, and sometimes a few feathers, in which it lays from four to six eggs of a 

 greenish-white ground-colour, blotched with red. After the breeding-season linnets 

 range through the fields in vast flocks, often composed of one sex almost ex- 

 clusively. As autumn advances, many of the linnets that have been bred in the 

 English woodlands cross the sea to other countries ; while others again join com- 

 pany with bands of greenfinches in search of food. The linnet is frequently white 

 or pied, but the most beautiful variety is of a cinnamon-brown which harmonises 

 with the rose-coloured breast. The male linnet is warm reddish brown above; 

 the forehead, fore-neck, and chest, being crimson ; and the breast and under-parts 

 dull buffy white. 



By some ornithologists the lesser redpoll (L. rufescens) is regarded 

 as a variety of the mealy redpoll of Northern Europe, the former 

 bird being chiefly confined as a breeding species to the British Isles and certain 

 parts of the Alps, though it has also nested on the island of Heligoland. The 

 lesser redpoll is an early breeder, selecting a variety of trees to contain its nest, 

 including alder, hazel, crab, birch, willow, and walnut ; as many as five nests having 

 been seen at once in a single hawthorn hedge. The height from the ground at 

 which the nest is placed varies from four to twenty feet ; and the composition of 

 the nest also varies, the exterior generally consisting of moss and dried grass, with 

 a lining of beautiful down from the catkin of the willow ; but we have seen nests 

 composed of dead fir twigs, and others built of hawthorn stems. The nest is often 

 lined with fine grass and hairs, together with a few feathers ; but one was com- 

 posed exclusively of cotton-waste. 



Much less liable to exhibit white or pied phases of plumage than the linnet, 

 the lesser redpoll is occasionally of a nearly uniform cinnamon-brown. In captivity 

 it interbreeds with the canary, but the offspring of this cross are small and 

 insignificant brown birds, devoid of the fine musical powers which most canary 

 males possess. The typical redpoll is light brown above, with dark centres to the 

 feathers ; the forehead being dark crimson, while the throat and breast are suffused 

 with rosy pink, especially in the breeding-season. The small insular form of 

 redpoll, which for many years was supposed to breed only in Great Britain, differs 

 from the former bird in being smaller and of a more reddish colour. The sexes 

 are generally alike, but the female does not assume the rosy tint upon the breast. 



