MOUNTAIN LINNET. 571 
Sir William Jardine sends me word that the Mountain 
Linnet is abundant in the north Highlands, taking the place 
there in summer of the Common Linnet, LZ. cannabina, in 
the Lowlands. Once or twice, this gentleman observes, I 
have seen a flock here during the winter, frequenting wild 
stubble land. Last winter I shot a pair within a few 
hundred yards of Jardine Hall, evidently driven in by the 
storm. ‘They were feeding on the heads of the black 
knap-weed, Centaurea nigra. 
Mr. Selby “found it a plentiful species, and generally 
distributed in Sutherlandshire. It was first met with at 
Laing, and afterwards occurred at all the different stations 
that were occupied. Its song was pleasing, though scarcely 
equal in compass to that of L. cannabina.” 
The Rey. Mr. Low states in his Fauna Orcadensis, ‘‘ that 
this little bird remains in the Orkneys all the year, building 
in the heath, but seldom or ever in bushes.” Mr. J. D. 
Salmon, who furnished to Mr. Loudon’s Magazine of 
Natural History an account of a visit to the Orkneys, has 
remarked, “‘That the Mountain Linnet was the only 
species of Linnet seen by the party ; two nests came under 
our observation, one was placed upon the ground, among 
the young corn, the other amidst some whins, Ulex. They 
were both alike: their outsides were composed of small 
roots and dried grass ; and their insides lined with a small 
quantity of hair and a few feathers; and each contained six 
eggs, similar in appearance to those of the Common Linnet, 
but rather smaller.” ; 
Mr. Dunn, in his Ornithologist’s Guide to Orkney and 
Shetland, says of the Mountain Linnet, or, as it is there 
called, the Heather Lintee, this, ‘as far as I am aware, is 
the only Linnet that breeds in these countries, over which 
it is pretty numerously dispersed. I have repeatedly taken 
its nest, which I found in shaded situations amongst long 
