82 BRITISH BIRDS EGGS. 
LINNET. 
Linota cannapina, Linn. 
Pl. XUIL., figs. 5-10. 
Geogr. distr.—Widely extended throughout Europe; a winter 
visitant in N. Africa; common and generally distributed in Great 
Britain; rarer in Scotland than in England. 
Food.—Seeds and insects. 
Nest.—Compact and cup-shaped, rarely so large as that of the 
Greenfinch, the walls not often exceeding 1 to 1} inches in width, and 
seldom with moss or, at any rate, with any quantity of it, amongst its 
materials; the following in my collection are a few which I noticed in 
the ‘ Zoologist’ for December, 1883 :—1. Slightly built for the species, 
but the walls strengthened with coarse straws, evidently selected from 
a dunghill.” 2. “ Not unlike nest of Yellow Bunting; its construction, 
however, decidedly firmer.” 3. ‘‘ Untidy, loosely put together, and 
has blackish straggling roots projecting from the sides.” 4. Unusually 
deep, formed of roots, fibre, and wool, with a few white hairs towards 
the interior. 5. ‘‘ Very ragged, formed of coarse bleached roots, lined 
with fine fibre and wool.” 
Position of nest.—In hawthorn hedges, bushes, and low shrubs, in 
forks of young trees, in furze, heather, and brambles near the ground, 
and occasionally even on the ground. 
Number of eggs.—4-6 ; most frequently 5. 
Time of nidification—1V-VI; May. 
A double-brooded species, and apparently with a very 
strong parental instinct ; it frequently attracts one to look 
at its nest (though only the beginner will probably care to 
take it) by giving the alarm as one approaches its place of 
concealment ; when sitting it is not very easily driven from 
the eggs, only leaving them at the last moment: if one, or 
even two, eggs are abstracted it will also not invariably 
desert the remainder; and this, though few non-collectors 
will believe it, is an act of wonderful forbearance on the 
part of almost any bird excepting a Tit. The nest is abun- 
dant in most situations, but especially so in furze bushes, 
on the top of a loose, low growing whitethorn hedge, or in 
the forks of saplings in dense thickets. 
