AXD NEIGHBOURHOOD. 195 



recorded to appear in xA.lgeria and Morocco, but we 

 did not meet with it during our seven months' stay- 

 in the former of those countries. 



86. MEALY REDPOLL 



Linota canescens. 



The earliest record of the occurrence of this bird 

 in oiu' county with which I am acquainted is to be 

 found in the fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British 

 Birds,' voL ii. p. 136, where mention is made of " one 

 shot at Oundie by the late Mr. Pelerin sufficiently 

 advanced in its plumage to have acquired a consider- 

 able portion of red colour on the breast." The only 

 other instances of capture that I know of in North- 

 amptonshire are those of a female taken near Lilford 

 by a bird-catcher on October 21, 1885, and two 

 others taken by a member of the same craft near 

 Roade in December 1893, and most obligingly sent 

 to me by Mr. W. Tomalin of Northampton. This is 

 a species with which we have no personal acquaint- 

 ance, except as a cage-bird. Its habits appear to 

 resemble very closely those of the Lesser or Common 

 Redpoll, and it seems that a considerable amount of 

 confusion has arisen amongst ornithological writers 

 in the discrimination of the two species. The 

 present is a truly nortliern species, which occurs 

 irregularly and in varying numbers, chiefly in our 

 north-eastern and eastern counties, during the winter 

 months. I can meet with no authentic record of its 

 having been known to breed in our country. 



o2 



