36 LESSER REDPOLL. 



to furnish a 'particular description of this species. Bat this sup- 

 plementary notice would not have been considered necessary, if 

 our author had not fallen into a mistake respecting the mark- 

 ings of the female and the young male ; the former of which 

 he describes as ' destitute of the crimson on the forehead,' and 

 the latter, ' not receiving that ornament till the succeeding 

 spring.' When Mr Wilson procured his specimens, it was in 

 the autumn, previously to their receiving their perfect winter 

 dress ; and he was never afterwards aware of his error, owing 

 to the circumstance of these birds seldom appearing in the 

 neighbourhood of Philadelphia. Considerable flocks of them, 

 however, have visited us this winter (1813-14) ; and we have 

 been enabled to procure several fine specimens of both sexes, 

 from the most perfect of which we have taken the following 

 description. We will add, that having had the good fortune to 

 observe a flock, consisting of nearly an hundred, within a few 

 feet of them, as they were busily engaged in picking the seeds 

 of the wild orache,* we can, with confidence, assert, that they 

 all had the red patch on the crown ; but there were very few 

 which had the red rump and breast : the young males, it is 

 probable, are not thus marked until the spring, and the females 

 are destitute of that ornament altogether. 



" The lesser redpoll is five inches and a quarter in length, 

 and eight inches and a half in breadth ; the bill is pale yellow, 

 ridged above and below with dark horn colour, the upper 

 mandible projecting somewhat over the lower at the tip ; irides, 

 dark hazel ; the nostrils are covered with recumbent, hair-like 

 feathers, of drab colour ; a line of brown extends from the 

 eyes, and encircles the base of the bill, forming, in some 

 specimens, a patch below the chin ; the crown is ornamented 

 with a pretty large spot of deep shining crimson ; the throat, 

 breast, and rump, stained with the same, but of a more delicate 

 red ; the belly is of a very pale ash, or dull white ; the sides 

 are streaked with dusky ; the whole upper parts are brown or 

 dusky ; the plumage, edged with yellowish white and pale ash, 

 * Atriplex hastata, Linn. 



