120 FRINGILLID<E. 



are very sociable with other birds, and will live in great 

 harmony with most small species. But if an individual of 

 their own species is brought near, or put into the same cage, 

 their pleasure is expressed in most lively and pleasing ges- 

 tures, erecting the feathers of the crown, and often affection- 

 ately caressing one another with their little beaks. This great 

 sociability towards their fellows renders it very easy to catch 

 a number of them as soon as one is secured for a call-bird. 

 Instances have been known of their breeding in confinement, 

 but these are rare. 



Being in want of a living specimen for examination, while 

 in the course of writing on the subject of the Redpole, we 

 purchased one in London, on the 17th of June, and took 

 it home with us. Its cage was frequently placed in the gar- 

 den, where the lively notes of other birds encouraged it to 

 chirp also, and we occasionally heard its call echoed by sounds 

 very similar. Now the trial was to be made, whether the 

 Redpole inhabited Surrey in summer or not. With this view 

 we listened and watched with much interest, and not long 

 without success. 



One morning the alarm was given that a wild Redpole had 

 been seen upon the outside of the cage, contemplating the 

 little prisoner within. This was joyful news to a naturalist, 

 and we believe no true ornithologist will laugh to scorn the 

 pleasure we experienced on the occasion. In the course of 

 the day, the visit of the wild bird was repeated, and he even 

 came accompanied by one or more little companions of the 

 same species ; sometimes alighting upon the top of the cage, 

 sometimes only answering the notes of satisfaction uttered 

 by the little captive, from a neighbouring tree. This proof 

 that Surrey is not without its Redpoles, even in the middle 

 of summer, for it was still June, was very agreeable to us, 

 and furnished us with another testimony in favour of an 

 opinion before expressed, that many birds supposed to be 



