CHAPTER VIII. 



THE LINNET. 



Linnets are a branch of a larger family of finches, all very 

 familiar to us. They are cousins, also, to the dear, impudent 

 sparrows, and the pretty siskin or aberdevines. 



The linnets are all compactly and stoutly built, with short 

 necks and good sized heads, with short, strong, pointed bills, 

 made for the ready picking up of seed and grain, on which they 

 live. Most of them have two broods in the season, and they 

 build a bulky, deep, and compact nest, just in accordance with 

 their character and figure ; but, though all linnet-nests have 

 a general resemblance of form, they vary more or less in 

 the material used. 



Linnets change their plumage once a year, and have a much 

 more spruce and brilliant appearance when they have their new 

 summer suits on. They are numerous in all parts of the 

 country, and, excepting in the season when they have young, 

 congregate in flocks, and in winter are attracted to the neigh- 

 bourhood of man, finding much of their food in farm-yards, 

 and amongst stacks. 



The linnet of our picture is the greater red-pole — one of 

 four brothers of the linnet family — and is the largest of the 

 four ; the others are the twit or mountain-linnet, the mealy- 

 linnet, and the lesser red-pole — the smallest of the four — all 



