LINNET. 107 



two extreme forms is so slight that the Eastern form is scarcely deserving 

 of even subspecific rank. 



The Common^ Brown, or Red Linnet, or Lintie, as it is variously called, 

 is one of our best-known species, and, from its tame disposition and 

 pleasing song, is also one of our most popular cage-birds. In winter (in 

 fact throughout the year, the few months of the breeding- season excepted) 

 it may be seen in almost every rural district, and not unfrequently visits 

 the busy metropolis, where it is sometimes seen in the parks. The Linnet 

 appears to be decreasing in numbers in our islands, partly in consequence of 

 the immense numbers netted by the bird-catchers, and partly on account 

 of the reclamation of land, by which its favourite haunts are destroyed. 

 It is most abundant in the less cultivated districts, on commons, especially 

 in gorse-coverts, and on the half- tilled lands near the moors. In winter it 

 is more widely dispersed, and frequents grass-fields and stubbles, often 

 coming into gardens, where a few pairs remain during the summer. 



The Common Linnet is a gregarious bird, and even in the breeding- 

 season is more or less sociable. In the boisterous month of March, when 

 winter seems struggling for supremacy with spring, the Linnet pairs, the 

 large flocks break up, and most of the birds retire to the wilder districts to 

 breed. The Linnet's song is heard most frequently at this season ; and 

 very often the males of a flock will warble in chorus from some tree-top, 

 fllling the air for some distance around with melody. Perhaps the song 

 of the Linnet is heard to best advantage when the flocks are dispersed, and 

 each pair is engaged in domestic duties on the breezy uplands. Here, it 

 may be in some dense mass of furze bushes, a low warbling song may be 

 heard, not unlike that of the Swallow, proceeding from a cock Linnet 

 sitting on the topmost spray of a gorse bush serenading his mate. When 

 singing he is very shy, and usually drops into the cover when disturbed. 

 The song is not very loud, part of it is somewhat harsh, but it is varied 

 by those low melodious notes which make this species so popular with the 

 bird-fancier. It is only in the pairing-season that the bird sings fre- 

 quently, and when the eggs are laid he seems too busy in feeding his mate 

 to devote much of his time to music. The common call-note of the 

 Linnet is a musical twit, twit, rapidly repeated ; that of one sex to the other 

 is intermediate between the similar notes of the Canary and the Goldflnch, 

 and might be represented by the word tyew-ee. 



The great breeding-grounds of the Linnet are on the rough lands which 

 lie between the moors and the well-cultivated districts. It is almost a 

 mountain-bird, but not so much so as the Twite. In the lowlands it shows 

 a decided preference for gorse-thickets, where its nest is most frequently 

 found. Other favourite situations are in masses of broom or in a rugged 

 sloe-tree, and sometimes in the branches of tall heather or amongst 

 brambles and briars. In more low-lying districts the bird will sometimes 



