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Genus LINOTA. 



Passer apud Brisson, Orn. iii. p. 131 (1760). 



Fringilla apud Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 322 (1766). 



Linaria apud Bechstein, Gemeinn. Naturg. Vog. Deutschl. ii. p. 141 (1807). 



Passer apud Pallas, Zoogr. Bosso-As. ii. p. 25 (1811). 



Ligurinus apud Koch, Baier. Zool. i. p. 231 (1816). 



Sjpinus apud Koch, torn. cit. p. 233 (1816). 



Cannabina apud C. L. Brehm, Isis, 1828, p. 1277. 



Linota, Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 34 (1838). 



Acanthis apud Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 540 (1850). 



Aegiothus apud Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i. p. 161 (1850-51). 



Linacanthus apud Des Murs, fide J. E. Gray, Cat. of Gen. & Subg. p. 78 (1855). 



The Linnets and Redpolls, though closely allied to Carduelis, Fringilla, Chrysomitris, and 

 Ligurinus, constitute a very fairly distinct group, and with Carpodacus, to which genus Linota 

 is also somewhat allied, link, as it were, the FringiHinae and Loxiinse. When I wrote the 

 article on the Linnet, I proposed to separate that genus under the generic title of Linaria ; 

 but further investigation has shown me that this cannot be done. Nor can Linaria be used, as 

 it has been preoccupied in botany since 1789. Cannabina is the next title in order of date; 

 but in proposing this name Brehm separated the Linnets from the Redpolls, calling the former 

 Cannabina, and the latter Linaria ; and therefore it cannot be used. Thus Linota, which title 

 was proposed by Bonaparte to embrace the entire group, and which comes next, must be 

 adopted, and the Linnet should stand as Linota cannabina. 



The genus Linota is represented in the Palsearctic and Nearctic Regions, and straggles also 

 to the northern portion of the Ethiopian Region. All the species, seven in number, are found 

 within the limits of the Western Palsearctic Region, where they are resident, breeding chiefly in 

 the northern districts, and migrating south in the winter. 



In habits the Linnets and Redpolls assimilate closely to their allies the Goldfinches, 

 Siskins, &c. They are lively, active birds, inhabiting forests, groves, and gardens during the 

 summer, collecting together in flocks in the winter, and ranging over the fields and open places 

 in search of food. They feed on insects, seeds, fruits, &c, but chiefly on seeds, build neat cup- 

 shaped nests, which they place in a tree or bush, and lay bluish white eggs marked with purplish 

 grey and reddish brown or dark brown. Their flight is rapid and undulating, and their song 

 varied and very sweet. 



Linota linaria, the type of the genus, has the bill moderately short, straight, conical, the 

 point slender and acute; nostrils round, basal, nearly hidden by stiff, recurved feathers; wings 

 long, rather broad, the first quill obsolete, the next three nearly equal, the second being usually 

 longest ; tail moderate, emarginate ; legs short, the tarsus covered in front with four large and 

 three inferior scutellse ; toes slender, compressed, claws long, acute, laterally grooved, curved ; 

 plumage soft ; the crown and rump, and in some species the breast, marked with red. 



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