32 



guineo, corpore reliquo subtus albo, hypochondriis fusco lavatis : rostro corneo, mandibula griseo- 

 incarnata, ad apicem cornea : pedibus pallide brunneis : iride fusca. 



2 ad. mari similis, sed fronte et pectore haud sanguineis : pileo fusco-griseo, fusco striate : corpore supra, 

 pectore et hypochondriis fusco striatis, et primariis minus albo marginatis. 



Adult Male in summer (Twyford, 10th May). Forehead blood-red; crown, hind neck, and sides of the neck 

 otherwise brownish grey, the hind crown with darker striations, and the region immediately round the 

 eye brownish white; back, rump, scapulars, and wing-coverts warm chestnut-brown, the feathers with 

 slightly darker centres, rump lighter and slightly varied with white ; upper tail-coverts blackish brown, 

 with broad whitish margins; quills blackish, the primaries margined on the outer web from the base to 

 nearly the tip with white, these margins being very narrow on the outer quills and much broader on 

 the inner ones ; secondaries slightly tipped with white, the inner secondaries like the back, but darker 

 and browner ; chin and throat dull white striped with greyish brown, breast rich carmine-red ; rest of 

 the underparts white, the flanks washed with brown; beak horn, the under mandible at the base 

 brown; legs pale reddish brown; iris brown. Total length about 5^-6 inches, culmen - 45, wing 3*lo, 

 tail 2-0, tarsus 07. 



Adult Female (Pagham, Sussex, 23rd April). Resembles the male, but lacks the red on the forehead and 

 on the breast, the upper parts are browner and more striped, the breast and flanks are striped with 

 dark brown, and the white edgings to the primaries are less developed. 



Adult Male in winter. The plumage is a trifle duller than in the summer, and the red on the crown and 

 breast is much paler and obscured by light edgings to the feathers, which, however, wear off in the 

 spring, and permit the full richness of the red to be exhibited. It is not always that the male loses his 

 rich red breast and head in the winter; and I should think that it is retained by the very old males. 

 We frequently see here in England males in the late autumn with the red richly developed; and 

 Mr. Godman remarks that in the Canaries and at Madeira the Linnets retain the red in the plumage 

 all the year round. 



Young of the year. Resembles the female, but has both the upper and underparts much more distinctly 

 striped with dark brown. 



Obs. So far as I can ascertain, it is long before the male attains the full beauty of its plumage. After the 

 first moult the young male has the breast red, though not to any great extent ; but it takes much longer 

 before it assumes the red on the forehead, and before the red on the breast attains its full brilliancy ; 

 and instances are cited by several authors of the male breeding before it has attained its full dress. 

 When in confinement, so soon as it moults, it loses the red, which is then replaced by yellow ; and some- 

 times wdd birds are obtained which have the breast and forehead orange-yellow instead of red, probably 

 owing to some want of vigour. 



Throughout Europe the Linnet is a common and widely distributed species, being met with up 

 to about 64° N. lat. ; and during the winter season it visits North Africa, some few remaining to 

 breed on the western side. 



In Great Britain it is generally distributed, and common throughout England, but becomes 

 rarer in the north of Scotland. Mr. Cecil Smith informs me that it is even commoner in the 

 Channel Islands than in the south of England. Except in the north of Scotland, it appears to be 



