THE SPECIES. 105 



icx). hornemanfz/, 5^\n. GREENLAND Redpoll. Crown red ; rump rosy ; 

 throat pink ; chin black ; bill brown and large. 



loi. /lavirostris, S^ in. TwiTE. Crown brown ; rump red ; throat brown; 

 chin buff; bill yellowish and short. 



97. can7iabina, s| in. Linnet. Crown reddish, streaked with grey and 

 blackish brown ; rump pale brown ; throat yellowish 

 grey with red and brown streaks ; chin brownish 

 white ; tail dark brown and white ; bill brownish 

 or blue. 



The Lesser Redpoll— Dimensions, Ak ; Eggs, Al — is our smallest Finch. He is darker 

 than the Mealy Redpoll, and has whitish red bands on his wings. He has a jerky, swimming 

 sort of flight, generally starting off with a chattering rattle and continuing with a prolonged 

 trill. His call has been syllabised as "honree." The female is smaller than the male, and, 

 unlike him, has no red on the breast and rump._ The young birds have no red at all. The 

 nest is generally low down among willows, or in a hedge or bush ; it is neatly made of 

 slender twigs, grass, and moss, and lined with hair or willow catkins or cotton grass, and 

 contains four, five, or six eggs. 



The Mealy Redpoll— Dimensions, Bd ; Eggs, Ak — has a longer tail than the last, and it is 

 deeply forked, but as he is only an irregular visitor the chances of his being met with are 

 somewhat remote. 



The Greenland Redpoll — Dimensions, Bk ; Eggs, Am— put in a first appearance among us 

 ^t Whitburn, in 1S55, and has not been seen here since. 



The Twite — Dimensions, Ce ; Eggs, Bf — is a native found mostly among the northern 

 .noors and hills, whence its other name of Mountain Linnet. " Twite" comes from its call, 

 ivhich has otherwise been syllabised as " twah-it." Its flight is the jerkily buoyant one, 

 characteristic of the Linnet family, with a little " chatter*' to start with, a " twitter " on the 

 wing, and a circling sweep before alighting. The female has no red on the rump, and is 

 tawnier above and buffer below than the male ; she has a dusky brown tip to her beak. The 

 nest is either on the ground or near it, among heather or furze as a rule, beautifully made of 

 heather and grass, and lined with roots, feathers, wool, hair, and thistledown. It contains 

 from four to six eggs. 



The Linnet — Dimensions, Db ; Eggs, Bj — is one of our most popular songsters, with a 

 sweet and mellow "twit, twit," and " tye wee, tye wee," of his own, to which he adds 

 whatever he thinks best of the notes and calls of other birds. He has a rapid, wavy flight, 

 with alternating flappings and pausings, glidings and wheelings, displaying all the white in 

 his wings, and in his full spread tail, as he alights. In summer he has a good deal of red in 

 his plumage, on his crown and breast, and chestj but this disappears in the autumn. The 

 older he gets the redder he gets. The female has no red in her plumage at any time, and 

 lias little white on her wings, and many more brown stripes below tlmn the male has, 

 although in the winter he is much more streaked than in the summer. The Linnet in confine- 

 ment loses much of the little bright colour he possesses, and is not unlike a hen sparrow. 

 The nest is generally in a furze bush, occasionally it is in a thorn hedge, or even in a tree, 

 and more rarely it is on the ground. It is a well built little aflair of twigs, grey moss and 

 wool, and grass, lined with rootlets, hair, feathers, and thistledown, and it contains from four 

 to six eggs. 



Locustella. Plate iiL TURDINM (Passeridas). 



44. luscinioides, 5^ in. Savi's Warbler. Back russet brown ; throat 

 white ; under tail coverts pale chestnut. 



43. ncevia^ 5I in. GRASSHOPPER Warbleh. Back greenish brown ; 



throat brownish white ; under tail coverts buffish 

 brown. 



Savi's Warbler — Dimensions, Bt ; Eggs, CQ-^has not been seen in this country since 1856, 

 but was formerly a regular visitor to the Fen district. Its nest was a deep cup of interwoven 

 sedge blades. 



The Grasshopper Warbler— Dimensions, Co ; Eggs, Bo— is one of our spring visitors, 

 arriving at the end of April, and leaving us in September. It is more often heard than seen. 

 It skulks about the underwood, running like a Sandpiper, and only occasionally takes to the 

 wing. Its note is like the sound made by a grasshopper, whence its name, a sort of trilling 

 "tnc-tric-tric," shrill and monotonous. The female is like the male, with the brown barred 

 rounded tail, which is characteristic. The nest is compactly built and deep, and generally 

 has some Galium in it. It is, as a rule, in a clump of grass, or at the bottom of a furze bush, 

 and, with the bedstraw, has a good deal of flat grass and moss. It is Hned with grass, and 

 contains five, sixj or seven eggs 



H 



