THE LESSER REDPOLL. 

 Linota rufescens (Vieillot). 

 Plate i6. 



The Lesser Redpoll, a resident species in the British Islands, is smaller and 

 more ruddy in colour than the Mealy Redpoll, and although local in its distribution 

 is widely spread over the country. 



Some of our birds are said to migrate in winter, and in Europe it has not been 

 recorded north of the Baltic. 



The nest is placed in a bush or tree — often an alder or willow — and is composed 

 of twigs, stalks of dead grass, and moss, and is warmly lined with willow-down or 

 cotton grass. The eggs, varying in number from four to six, are of a pale bluish 

 or greenish colour, spotted with reddish-brown. 



The food of the different races of Redpoll consists of buds of trees, especially 

 those of the birch and alder, and also of various seeds. 



Seebohm, in his British Birds, describes the song of the Lesser Redpoll "as a 

 short monotonous trill, clear, shrill, and not altogether unmusical." 



In winter large flocks visit the birch and alder trees, where they may be seen 

 climbing about the twigs, picking out the seeds and buds, incessantly uttering their 

 twittering notes. 



After moulting in autumn, the male shows hardly any crimson in the colour 

 of his plumage. 



The female is duller in colour, the red being confined to the crown of the head. 



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