PASSBRES (finches). 419 



fruit-trees — cherries, gooseberries, plums, and apple being par- 

 ticularly chosen. The ground beneath the trees is often found 

 covered with the scales of the blossom-buds, showing the havoc 

 they have wrought. We have frequently examined the buds 

 of fruit-trees being attacked by these birds, but have never 

 been able to find any sign of insect or mite within, so they do 

 not j)iok them off for the same reason as the tits. They nest in 

 thick copses and hedges, forming the nest of fine twigs and dry 

 grasses, and lining it with fine fibrous rootlets, in which they 

 lay five light greenish-blue eggs, streaked and speckled with 

 reddish-brown and purple. 



The female alone takes part in the incubation. The young 

 are fed partly on insects and their larvae, and seeds softened, it 

 is said, by the female. Various seeds also form the food of the 

 adult, such as those of the chickweed, thistle, plantain, and 

 groundsel. It is needless to give a description of the bird, as 

 it is so well known ; but the young may be pointed out as 

 differing from the adults by having no black on the head. 



The Linnet (Acanfhis cannabina). — The Linnet is widely 

 distributed in England and Wales. In Scotland it is replaced 

 by the Mountain Twite (A. flarirostri^). In colour the linnet 

 is very variable : the head in the male is mottled brown, red 

 in the centre ; back chestnut-brown, dull brown towards the 

 tail, which is black, the outer tail-feathers bordered with white ; 

 primary wing-feathers black, bordered with white and tipped 

 with ashy-grey; breast-feathers reddish -brown, edged with 

 yellowish-red ; abdomen dull-white, flanks reddish-yellow ; bill 

 horn colour, legs brown. In summer the beak is bluish-brown in 

 colour and the feathers of the crown greyish-brown, tipped with 

 crimson, the back being bright chestnut-brown. The linnet 

 nests on commons and heaths, especially in gorse and juniper 

 bushes and low hedges, about the middle of April. Four to six 

 eggs are laid in the wood-lined nest, of a bluish-white colour, 

 speckled and streaked with reddish-brown and purplish-grey. 

 There may be two broods in the year. In autumn they unite 



