BIRDS OF 1VI6TUT. 31 



quite sure, for the old bird would not stir from the nest, 

 although I touched it, and I had not the heart to drive it 

 away by force. But the young escaped all harm, as far as 

 I know, so long as* they remained in the nest, although it 

 was often visited by people passing. 



I was told that a short time before a pair of Redpolls had 

 for two years in succession hatched their young in a bird- 

 cage that hung outside a building about nine feet from the 

 ground, the wires being so far apart as to permit the birds 

 passing between them. 



The nests which I found were made chiefly of dried grass 

 and roots, the inside being lined with white plant-wool, and 

 offen with a few Ptarmigan feathers, so that it looked 

 altogether white. 



At the end of June, when the willows are in leaf, the 

 young forsake their nests. During July and August and 

 the first half of September, both old and young used to 

 come about the houses, gathering in flocks on the refuse 

 heaps outside tlie brewery, and, if then a cage with a decoy 

 bird was placed near them, they were easily caught in a net. 

 Some were caught as they flew into the houses hunting for 

 relatives already captured. Within a few days I caught in 

 a net as many as twenty. They were easily tamed, and 

 often ate from the hand, even on the first day of their 

 captivity. 



Once I gave some their liberty, after keeping them four- 

 teen days as prisonersii but they returned to the cage after 

 a few hours' or a day's absence ; and when I let them fly 

 about the room to catch flies, I could lure them to sit on 

 my hand by holding out a bit of hemp to them; I fed them 

 chiefly on groats steeped in water. 



When caged they became a little quarrelsome, especially 

 the red-breasted males, obliging me to separate one of these 



