Nest, &e. 
278 PASSERES. FRINGILLA. Mountain 
Mountain Linnet or Twite—Fringilla montium, 
Lann. 
PLATE 55. Fig. 5. 
Fringilla montium, Gmei. Syst. 1. p. 917. sp. 68.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. v. I. 
p- 459. sp. 84. 
Linaria montana, Briss. 3. p. 145. 38.—Raii, Syn. p. 91. A. 4.— Will. p. 191. 
Grosbec a gorge rouge, ou de Montsign, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. v. 1. p. 362. 
Arktische Fink, Bechst. Tasschenb. p. 125. t. 9.—Jd. Naturg. Deut. v. 2. 
. 139. 
Galnenaaurene Fink, Naum. Vog. t. 20. f. 39.—Frisch, t. 10. f. 1. female. 
Mountain Linnet, Br. Zool. No. 133. t. 53.—Will. (Ang.) p. 261.—Arct. 
Zool. 2. p. 380. C.—Lath. Syn. 3. p. 307. 76.—Lewin’s Br. Birds, 2. t. 86. 
—Pult. Cat. Dorset. p. 13.—Bewick’s Supp. to Br. Birds, t. p. 24. 
Twite, Mont. Ornith. Dict. v. 2.—Low’s Faun. Orcad. p. 64.—Shaw’s Zool. 
v. 9. p. 521. 
This, like the preceding species, is subject, during a cer- 
tain period of the year, to a change in the colour of its fea- 
thers on particular parts of the body, rendering its summer- 
appearance different from that which it bears through the 
rest of the year. It is rather larger than the common linnet, 
being bulkier in the bedy, and having a longer tail. During 
summer it frequents the mountainous districts of England 
and Scotland, where it breeds; and it is found to extend as 
far as to the Shetland Isles. 
The nest is placed amid the tops of the tallest heath, and 
is composed of dry grass and heather, lined with wool, fibres 
of root, and the finer parts of the heath ; and the four or five 
eggs it contains are of a pale bluish-green colour, spotted 
with pale orange-brown. It leaves the mountains in autumn, 
assembling in flocks, which associate and travel with the com- 
mon linnet, and are taken with them by the London bird- 
catchers, who can readily distinguish when there are any 
twites in a flock, by their peculiar note, expressive of that 
word. 
The specics is abundant in Norway, Sweden, and other re- 
gions extending to the Arctic Circle; but is rare, and only 
known as a bird of passage in the warmer parts of Europe. 
Its food is the same as that of the common Iinnet. 
