The Common Redpoll 



and grass-tops, obeying now the individual whim, or yielding to the flock 

 impulse which sends them whirling away in erratic curves. 



"Sometimes the flocks complete circles in the air, when they look 

 like a variegated wheel of birds, or fly untiringly about the cedar thickets 

 after the manner of Bohemian Waxwings. During snowy weather they 

 allow an approach to within four or five yards when engrossed with grass 

 seeds and withered dog daisies on the bare perches on the hillsides. If 

 forced to rise they sweep around in a dense cluster and immediately return 

 to the same spot, — their wings making a loud rustling noise. Rosy 

 Finches are very numerous at my ranch in Dawson County; I have seen 

 about a thousand at one time, by the water trough, distributed in the 

 pines, and on the ground. A long stream of birds may keep flying into a 

 draw for about a minute, and be all lost to sight in the long grass upon 

 alighting, but the same flock perched in a small dead cedar (completely 

 covering it) is a remarkable and charming sight. ' ' 



No. 27 



Common Redpoll 



A. O. U. No. 528. Acanthis linaria linaria (Linnseus). 



Synonyms. — Redpoll. Lesser Redpoll. Linnet. Lintie. 



Description. — Adult male: Crown carmine; throat and breast broadly rosy 

 (eugenia red) in varying proportions according to season; frontlet, lores, and throat- 

 patch sooty black; remaining lower parts white, flanks and crissum streaked with 

 dusky; above variegated dusky, flaxen-brown, and whitish, the feathers having dusky 

 centers and flaxen edgings; rump dusky and white in streaks, tinged with rosy; wings 

 and tail dusky with flaxen or whitish edgings; two inconspicuous wing-bars formed by 

 white tips of middle and greater coverts. Female: Similar, but without red on rump 

 and breast, the latter suffused with buffy instead; sides heavily streaked with dusky. 

 Immature: Like female, but without crimson crown. Length 139.7 (5-5°) or less; 

 wing 75 (2.95); tail 55 (2.16); bill 9 (.35); depth at base 6 (.23); tarsus 15 (.59.) Fe- 

 males average less. 



Recognition Marks. — Warbler to sparrow size; crimson crown-patch in adults; 

 no dusky spot on breast. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: A bulky affair of twigs and 

 grasses, heavily lined with feathers, and placed in tree or bush. Eggs: 4 to 6; pale 

 bluish green, dotted and speckled with reddish brown or umber. Av. size 16.5 x 12.7 

 (.65 x .50). 



Range of Acanthis linaria. — Northern part of Northern Hemisphere, south 

 in winter to middle temperate latitudes (A. O. U.). 



Range of A. I. linaria. — As above, except Greenland and extreme northerly 

 sections of North America, where replaced by rostrata and holboelli, respectively. 



i 7 8 



