32^ 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE LESS 

 RED-HEADED LINNET. 



PLATE XXXII. 



The Redpoll, or Less Red-headed Linnet, builds her 

 nest in heath, briers, or low bushes. The nest before 

 me was built in a branch of * common broom, just at the 

 time when the buds were swelling for leaves, as repre- 

 sented in the plate. Below the nest I have thrown a 

 sprig of broom flov/ers by way of decoration. 



The outside of the nest consists wholly of dried 

 stalks and blades of grass, neatly folded and interlaced 

 together. The lining consists wholly of willow down, 

 but between this and the outside is an intermediate 

 coat or stratum of small roots, and a few hairs. This 

 nest, as well as some others, are beautiful to admira- 

 tion ; and it is not without regret that I find myself 

 under a necessity of tearing them to pieces, in order 

 to give faithful descriptions of them. 



There was five eggs in the nest of a dusky green- 

 blue, thickly spotted at the big end with small purple 

 spots. 



The song of the cock is inean, but in beauty he 

 gives place to none of the British Linnets. 



Our birdmen here call it chisaree, in imitation of a 

 particular cry it makes in breeding-time. 



* Spartium scoparium. 



