Igo MEALY REDPOLL, 
for the sake of convenience, I treat the Mealy Redpolls under one 
heading, and take our small, dark, Lesser Redpoll separately. 
The typical Mealy Redpoll is a common visitor to Shetland from 
September onwards, while the line of its migration appears to be 
principally along the east coast in Scotland and the north of 
England, for the bird is rarer and of more uncertain occurrence on 
the west side. South of Durham its visits become irregular ; in the 
Eastern Counties it has occasionally been obtained in spring, and 
exceptionally in summer ; and in some years large flocks have been 
noticed down to the Channel, though in Devon and Cornwall it is 
almost unknown. In Ireland it has been taken in Kildare and 
Mayo; while the Tearaght light has furnished several examples of 
the subspecies Z. vos¢va¢a in various autumns, from 1889 to 1893. 
In Europe and Asia the Mealy Redpoll nests rather farther north 
than the limits of birch-growth, but southward, it may, be doubted 
if it reaches below 58° N. lat.; for the bird found breeding in 
the mountain-regions of Central Europe is, probably, our Lesser Red- 
poll. The Mealy Redpoll has been obtained on Kolguev Island 
(Pearson), and on migration it is irregularly abundant down to the 
Alps, but rare in the south of France, Italy, Greece and Southern 
Russia. As already stated, one or two races breed in Arctic 
America, and a large form in Greenland, Iceland and Spitsbergen. 
The nest, neatly built of bents, lichens and shreds of bark, with 
a lining of catkins, hair and feathers, is usually placed in the low 
fork of a tree or a bush, and sometimes in a tuft of grass. The 5-6 
eggs are greenish-blue, spotted with reddish-brown: measurements 
‘7 by ‘5 in. The young feed on insects and their larve ; afterwards 
on seeds, like the parents. 
The adult male in spring has the lores black ; forehead and part of 
the crown blood-red ; upper parts dark brown, mottled and streaked 
with greyish-white, especially on the rump, which is tinged with 
pink ; tail-feathers dark brown, with pale edges; chin black; sides 
of neck and breast carmine ; lower parts dull white, streaked with 
dark brown on the flanks ; bill horn-colour, yellowish at the base; 
legs dark brown. Length 5‘1 in.; wing 2°9 in. The female is 
smaller, darker on the upper parts, and more streaked on the lower ; 
with less red on the head and none on the breast. The young have 
the upper feathers margined with buff and have no red on the fore- 
head, but are otherwise like the female. After the autumn moult 
the new feathers have broad yellowish-grey margins, which, in the 
male, conceal the carmine, and the general appearance is very pale ; 
whence the name of ‘Mealy,’ and, perhaps, of ‘ Stone-Redpoll.’ 
