118 holboll's eedpole. 



in his "Birds of Europe/' which is considered by some 

 to be only a variety of F. borealis ; and Mr. Morris, 

 in his "History of British Birds," has figured the Mealy 

 Redpole under Gould's name of Linaria canescens. 



As long ago however as 1842, M. Selys De Long- 

 champs, in his "Faune Beige," p. 73, remarked that 

 "F. borealis must not be confounded with F. canescens, 

 which differs always from it, in that the whole rump 

 is of a pure white above, but it has a much stronger 

 make, a very long tail, and the ground colour of the 

 plumage white, tinted with brown." 



This species inhabits Greenland, and is found occa^- 

 sionally in Belgium and the north of France. 



M. Dubois, in his "Planches Coloriees des Oiseaux 

 de la Belgique," a Avork which I have before had 

 occasion to speak of with favour, has the following notice 

 of this bird, which I take the liberty, with the author's 

 kind permission, to transcribe: — "The Tarin D'Holboil 

 is very rare, and Ave haA-e only very vague and very 

 imperfect accounts about it. We are ignorant of its 

 true country. It is only known that it comes from the 

 north, and that it appears in Germany and Belgium. 

 Nothing is knoAvn about the habits and nidification of 

 this bird, but they probably do not differ from other 

 species of the same genus. It is distinguished from its 

 congeners by the body and beak being stronger, and 

 the greater length of the wings. Many naturalists have 

 made a special genus for this Tarin and the two other 

 European species, but Ave cannot admit this distinction, 

 as these Tarins do not differ in anything but the colour 



of the plumage The figures are taken from two 



species in the collection of M. De Selys-Longchamps." 



The male has the vertex and forehead blood-red; 

 upper parts of neck and body whitish, with longitudinal 



