122 LESSER RED-POLL. 



are a bright fox color ; the legs and feet a dirty brownish white, or claj 

 color, and very strong ; the bill is strong, dusky above and yellow be- 

 low ; iris of the eye hazel. The chief difference in the female is that 

 the wings are not of so bright a bay, inclining more to a drab ; yet this 

 is scarcely observable, unless by a comparison of the two together. 

 They are generally very fat, live -on grass seeds, eggs of insects, and 

 gravel. 



Species XV. FBINGILLA LINARIA. 



LESSER EED-POLL. 



[Plate XXX. Fig. 4.] 

 Lath, ii., 305. — Arct. Zool. 379. — Le Sizeren, Burr, iv., 216. 



This bird corresponds so exactly in size, figure and color of plumage 

 with that of Europe, of the same name, as to place their identity be- 

 yond a doubt. They inhabit during summer the most northern parts 

 of Canada and still more remote northern countries, from whence they 

 migrate at the commencement of winter. They appear in the Grenesee 

 country with the first deep snow, and on that account are usually called 

 by the title of Snow-birds. As the female is destitute of the crimson 

 on the breast and forehead, and the young birds do not receive that 

 ornament till the succeeding spring, such a small proportion of the in- 

 dividuals that form these flocks are marked with red, as to induce a gen- 

 eral belief among the inhabitants of those parts that they are two 

 different kinds associated together. Flocks of these birds have been 

 occasionally seen in severe winters in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 

 They seem particularly fond of the seeds of the common alder, and hang 

 head downwards while feeding, in the manner of the Yellow-bird. They 

 seem extremely unsuspicious at such times, and will allow a very near 

 approach without betraying any symptoms of alarm. 



The specimen represented in the plate was shot, with several others 

 of both sexes, in Seneca county, between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes. 

 Some individuals were occasionally heard to chant a few interrupted 

 notes, but no satisfactory account can be given of their powers of song. 



This species extends throughout the whole northern parts of Europe, 

 is likewise found in the remote wilds of Russia ; was seen by Steller in 

 Kamtschatka ; and probably inhabits corresponding climates round the 

 whole habitable parts of the northern hemisphere. In the highlands oi 

 Scotland they are common, building often on the tops of the heath, 

 sometimes in a low furze bush, like the common Linnet ; and sometimes 

 on the ground. The nest is formed of light stalks of dried grass, inter- 



