48 



Redpolls, and the difficulty in obtaining specimens for examination from the various localities 

 on the outskirts of their range, it is difficult to determine, with any degree of accuracy, the 

 precise limits of the area inhabited by the present species ; but, so far as I can at present 

 state, with the materials at my command, it appears to be restricted in the breeding-season to 

 the British isles, whence later in the year it wanders southward into Western Europe. As 

 regards its range in England, I cannot do better than quote Professor Newton, who writes 

 (Yarr. Brit. B. ed. 4, ii. p. 147) as follows : — " In some English counties, particularly in the 

 south, this Redpoll is known only or chiefly as a winter visitor, appearing in flocks from Michael- 

 mas till April, though in others it breeds more or less regularly ; and the nest has been found, 

 according to the late Mr. Bury, so far to the southward as the Isle of Wight (Zool. p. 643). 

 Towards the north, and in Scotland especially, it is resident all the year, changing its haunts, 

 however, according to the season. Information collected by Mr. More shows that of English 

 counties it occasionally breeds in Dorset, Hampshire, Oxford, Warwick (where, indeed, Mr. Rake 

 says, Zool. p. 9248, he has repeatedly taken its nest), and Salop (where Mr. Rocke, Zool. p. 9781, 

 believes it breeds regularly). To these Middlesex must be added, on the authority of Mr. Harting, 

 Kent on that of Mr. Wharton (Zool. p. 8951), Surrey on that of Newman (Zool. s. s. p. 3235), 

 Cambridgeshire on that of the Editor, and Worcestershire on that of Mr. J. A. Drake, as cited 

 by Mr. Morris. Mr. More further states that it breeds annually in Gloucestershire; and it 

 certainly does so in Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, and 

 thence in every county lying to the northward throughout the island. But the places it fre- 

 quents vary year by year, and, without our being able to account for the fact, otherwise than on 

 the general supposition that its choice is influenced by the supply of food, it may be found in a 

 locality abundantly during one season and during the next may be altogether wanting. Mr. F. 

 Norgate has known of thirty or more nests in one year at one locality in Norfolk, and in the 

 next year scarcely any." To this I may add that the Rev. Murray A. Mathew, of Bishops 

 Lydeard, Taunton, informs me that there this species " is a common winter visitant, generally 

 met with in company wtih Siskins, on alders by the side of streams, or in damp bottoms in woods. 

 Last year and the year before a little party of six or eight frequented the vicarage garden for a 

 fortnight in the spring, and were extremely tame, allowing a very close inspection. In North 

 Devon, towards the end of March, I shot from a willow bush overhanging a stream a very mealy 

 example of this pretty little bird. I have never known an instance of Linota rufescens having 

 nested in the south-western counties." 



In Scotland it is generally distributed where woods and thickets of brushwood are found ; 

 but Mr. R. Gray says that he has not traced it in districts where such shelter is absent. It 

 visits Iona, and one has been obtained on Islay. On the mainland of Argyleshire, this gentleman 

 writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 149), "it is common enough even in summer, and breeds in that 

 county as well as in Renfrewshire and Dumbartonshire. It also breeds near Glasgow, and is 

 sparingly distributed in other parts of Lanarkshire, especially where birch-plantations are 

 numerous. The same remark, indeed, applies to its occurrence in most Scottish districts. In 

 Orkney as many as fifty are sometimes seen in a flock." In Shetland, according to Dr. Saxby, it 

 is less numerous than the Mealy Redpoll ; but, " under stress of weather, a few may occasionally 

 be seen beneath the shelter of walls or in ditches, contenting themselves with such food as may 



