REDPOLE. 



409 



The above specimen, shot on the third of February, weighed twenty- 

 three ounces ; the length seventeen inches ; the bill an inch and a 

 half long to the feathers on the forehead, of a dusky colour, with the 

 base and under part of the lower mandible, and a streak from the 

 nostrils to the corner of the mouth of the upper mandible, bright yel- 

 low ; irides hazel ; lore dusky ; the top of the head, back of the neck, 

 and back, dusky, the feathers on the last slightly margined with cine- 

 reous ; the chin, throat, and cheeks white, the last dingy white, ex- 

 tending on each side towards the back of the head; the under part of 

 the neck brown, with a slight tinge of rufous ; but the lower part of 

 the neck, upper breast, and the sides of the body, white, obscurely 

 spotted with dusky ; the rest of the body beneath is white ; the scapu- 

 lars, rump, prime quills, and coverts of the wings, all black, except a 

 patch of pure white on the shoulder, or junction of the wing with the 

 body, and ridge of the wing ; thirteen of the secondary quills are white, 

 the two first, and two last, with more or less black on their outer webs, 

 the others pure white ; the tertials are black ; legs and feet pale green- 

 ish yellow, the former, as well as the webs, dusky on the outside. 



Upon dissection, the stomach was found to be distended with feathers 

 and small seeds. Being struck with so singular an appearance, it was 

 carefully washed and dried, and the contents of the stomach was, by 

 that means, discovered to be feathers collected from its own body. For 

 what purpose could such a quantity have been swallowed ? Few of the 

 piscivorous birds disgorge the refuse like the falcon tribe, and such a 

 quantity can scarcely be supposed to have been taken into the stomach, 

 in the act of cleaning and dressing its plumage, unless they had been 

 long collecting, and were impassable ; many indeed were completely 

 comminuted, and fit to pass into the intestines. This singularity has 

 been observed also in the crested grebe. 



There was nothing remarkable in the trachea, except that the 

 bronchi, or divarications, were hard and bony, particularly on the in- 

 side, where there was scarcely any membranous divisions, and conse- 

 quently little or no flexibility. 



This is smaller, much shorter, and a more truss-shaped bird, in size 

 between the dusky and the crested species ; the neck is much shorter, 

 and the bill is materially different. 



RED PARTRIDGE.— A name for the Guernsey Partridge. 



RED PHALAROPE.— A name for the Coot Foot. 



REDPOLE (Rubra Linaria, Ray.) 



* Fringilla Linaria, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 322. 29 Fauna Suec. No. 241.— Gmel. Syst. 



1. p. 917. sp. 29. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 458. sp. 83. — Linaria rubra minor, 

 Rati, Syn. p. 91. A. 9.— Will. p. 176. t. 43.— Briss. 3. p. 138. 31.— Fringilla 



