88 MEALY REDPOLL. 



chatted to each other, and then resting for an instant plumed them- 

 selves. These occupations they would have continued much longer 

 had not the trigger of my gun been touched at a favourable moment, 

 on which I walked to the spot and picked up the little flock, all of 

 them having been killed at one shot. 



I and my party had procxu-ed a good number of Common Redpolls in 

 the rugged country of Labrador, but not a single bird of this species ; 

 which yet removes during winter to our middle districts. A specimen 

 in my possession was procm"ed near Moorestown in the State of New 

 Jersey by my valued friend Edward Harris, Esq. and I have seen 

 several others that were obtained near Baltimore in Maryland. 



That the Mealy Redpoll becomes a richly coloured bird at the ap- 

 proach of the breeding season I feel quite confident, and I will now 

 venture to give you some idea of its appearance at that happy period 

 of its life. Then, I would say, the cheeks and the whole under part 

 of the body, excepting a large black patch on the throat, are of a rich 

 carmine, as is the rump. The spots seen on the sides of the breast, 

 and along the lower parts of the body, almost to the femorals, disap- 

 pear, and the upper parts, or the shoulders and back, become almost 

 of a uniform rich brown, as those parts are in the Common Linnet of 

 Europe. 



The present species is rather larger than the Common Redpoll. 

 The colour of its bill even during winter, differs in being of a rich yel- 

 low, and its legs, feet, and claws at that season are pure black, instead 

 of reddish-brown. 



On two occasions I have seen the Mealy Redpoll associated with 

 the American Siskin, in the beginning of October in the province 

 of New Brunswick. They were then feeding on the seeds of neglected 

 sun-flowers. 



Gkos-bec BOREAL, Fringilla borealis, Temminck, Manuel d'Ornithologie, part 

 iii. p. 264. 



Adult Male. Plate CCCC. Fig. 2. 



Bill short, strong, conical, much compressed toward the end ex- 

 tremely acute ; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge 

 narrow, the sides convex, the edges sharp and overlapping, without 

 notch, the tip acuminate ; lower mandible with the angle short and se- 



