288 LESSER REDPOLL. 
ash, tinged with yellow ochre, and streaked laterally with black ; tail, 
black, edged with ash, the three exterior feathers marked on the inner 
webs with white; bill, black above, whitish below, furnished with 
bristles at the base ; iris, hazel; legs and feet, reddish yellow. 
The female differs very little in plumage from the male. 
* ep 
LESSER REDPOLL.—FRINGILLA LINARIA. —Fie. 139. 
; Lath. ii. 305. — Arct. Zool, 379. — Le Sizeren, Buff. iv. 216. Pl. enl. 151, 2. — 
: Peale’s Museum, No. 6579. 
LINARIA MINOR, — Witroucuey. 
cod : Pringilla linaria, Bonap. Synop. p. 112. 
Tuts bird corresponds so exactly in size, figure, and color of 
plumage, with that of Europe of the same name, as to place their 
identity beyond 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 Genesee 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 individuals that form these flocks are marked 
with red, as to induce a general belief among the inhabitants of thdse 
parts that they are two different kinds associated together. Flocks of 
these birds have been occasionally seen in severe winters in the 
see pee ei 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. <a SO: 
The specimen represented in Fig. 139 was shot, with several others. 
of both ‘sexes, in Seneca county, between the Seneca. and Cayuga 
lakes, Some individuals were occasionauy heard to chant a few 
interrupted. notes, but no satisfactory account can be given of their 
powers ofsong.  =s_—| : 
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. Jn the Highlands 
of 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, 
intermixed with tufts of wool,:and warmly lined with feathers. The 
eggs are usually four, white, sprinkled with specks of reddish.* 
* I have not been able to procure’ American specimens of this bird; but, com- 
paring the description of Wilson and of Ord, there seems little doubt of their 
~ . ie ‘ x a 
