REDPOLL. 



LESSER REDPOLL. REDPOLL LINNET. 

 ACANTHIS LINARIA. 



Char. Above, brownish gray streaked with dusky; rump white, 

 tinged with rose pink and streaked with dusky ; forehead with patch of 

 deep carmine ; wings dusky brown with two white bars ; below, white, 

 sides heavily streaked with dusky ; chin and throat dusky ; breast deep 

 rose pink. Bill extremely acute ; in winter its color is yellow tipped with 

 black, but in summer the color is dull blackish. (Female differs from 

 male only in lacking the red tints on rump and breast.) Length 4% to 5 

 inches. 



Nest. In a low tree or amid a tuft of grass ; composed of dry grass and 

 moss lined with hair or feathers or plant down. 



Eggs. 4-6 J white tinged with green or blue, spotted with reddish 

 brown ; 0.65 X 0.50. 



These elegant birds, which only pay us occasional and 

 transient visits at distant intervals, are inhabitants of the whole 

 Arctic circle to the confines of Siberia, and are found in Kam- 

 tschatka and Greenland as well as the colder parts of Europe. 

 Arriving in roving flocks from the northern wilds of Canada, 

 they are seen at times in the western parts of the State of New 

 York with the fall of the first deep snow, and occasionally pro- 

 ceed eastward to the very city of New York, where in the 

 depth of winter, and for several weeks, they have been seen 

 gleaning their scanty food of various kinds of seeds in the 

 gardens of the town and suburbs. Flocks are likewise some- 

 times seen in the vicinity of Philadelphia in severe winters, 

 though at remote periods ; as according to Mr. Ord they have 

 not visited that part of Pennsylvania since the winter of 



