34 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
distributed. The amount of red and the shades of it 
differ greatly in different individuals, but in none is it 
purple, as the name would indicate. Stearns says this 
name was erroneously applied from the faulty coloring 
of some early plates, but it would seem that one ought 
never to name a bird without knowing personally at 
least its physical characteristics. The young males, 
the first year, and sometimes the second, lack the bright 
markings, and are plainly clad, like the females. If not 
singing they may easily be mistaken for sparrows, 
which they considerably resemble both in color and 
manner of flight. 
The linnets are quite irregularly distributed, being 
plentiful in some neighborhoods, when there are few or 
none in others adjoining. Evergreens and certain fruit 
trees very likely have something to do with this unequal 
distribution, as they are partial to spruce, balsam and 
pine for nesting and hiding places, while the pear, 
cherry and hawthorn provide both vegetable and insect 
food. The linnets are fond of the pistils and stamens 
of the elms; and they undoubtedly eat some of the buds 
and flower organs of the fruit trees, thereby incurring 
the enmity of many farmers, who wage an extermi- 
nating war upon them. If the truth could be known it 
would be found that they never thin out the flowers 
sufficiently to cause the loss of any considerable quan- 
tity of fruit, and that for every quart destroyed they 
make it possible for ten times that number of bushels to 
grow. So little do we appreciate the services of our 
friends! Last summer I visited a fruit grower whose 
