16 INTRODUCTION. 



the nests of grey linnets, and seen numbers of 

 them shot in winter, spring, summer, and au- 

 tumn, but always found the plumage nearly the 

 same ; — it is lighter, and more of a greyish brown, 

 than either the red-breasted linnet or redpole* 

 The plumage of the last bii'ds is more of a tint be- 

 tween amber and chesnut-brown ; — that of the 

 grey linnet is between yellowish and hair-brown; 

 but the aspect, as well as the colom's of the three 

 birds, are very diiferent from each other. The 

 grey linnet never has red on its breast ; — the red 

 on the breast of the red-breasted linnet is pale, 

 and of a tint between carmine and lake red, softly 

 waved transversely; — that on the breast of the 

 redpole is deep artereal blood-red, streaked down- 

 wards and strongly marked. That redpoles, in a 

 state of confinement, lose the red altogether, may 

 be accounted for by change of food, or the priva- 

 tion of something they were accustomed to in a 

 wild state. Hempseed changes the plumage of 

 the bullfinch to black, — ^and very long confinement, 

 or age, or some other cause, affects the goldfinch, 

 so that it assumes a white appearance; but we ne- 

 ver could perceive any difference in the plumage 

 of Avild and tame linnets. For these reasons, we 

 are led to conclude that the grey or bro^vn liar 



