Linnet. INSESSORES. LINARIA. 319 



appearance different from that which it bears through the 

 rest of the year. It is rather larger than the Common Lin- 

 net, being bulkier in the body, and having a longer tail. 

 During summer it frequents the mountainous districts of 

 England and Scotland, where it breeds ; and it is found to 

 extend as far as to the Shetland Isles. 



The nest is placed amid the tops of the tallest heath, and Nest, &c. 

 is composed of dry grass and heather, lined with wool, fibres 

 of root, and the finer parts of the heath ; and the four or five 

 eggs it contains are of a pale bluish-green colour, spotted 

 with pale orange-brown. It leaves the mountains in autumn, 

 assembling in flocks, which associate and travel with the 

 Common Linnet, and are taken with them by the London 

 bird-catchers, who can readily distinguish when there are 

 any twites in a flock, by their pecuhar note, expressive of 

 that word. 



The species is abundant in Norway, Sweden, and other re- 

 gions extending to the Arctic Circle ; but is rare, and only 

 known as a bird of passage, in the warmer parts of Europe. 



Its food is the same as that of the Common Linnet. Food. 



Plate 55. Fig. 5. The male in summer plumage, and of 

 the natural size. 

 Bill wax- yellow. Throat and sides of the head pale red- General 

 dish-brown. Crown of the head and the back part mar- ^^^^^ 

 gined with yellowish or pale reddish-brown. Rump 

 fine purplish-red. Greater wing-coverts edged with 

 white. Quills dusky ; the primary ones margined with 

 pale brown ; the secondary with white on their outer 

 webs. Breast and sides yellowish-brown, with streaks 

 of a darker shade. Middle of the belly and the vent 

 greyish white. Tail forked, brownish-black, margined 

 on the outer and inner webs with white. Legs and toes 

 blackish-brown. 

 The female is without the purplish-red upon the rump ; 

 and the centres of the feathers upon the upper parts are 



