ROSE LINNET. 



435 



From the continual alarm of these birds, occasioned by the presence of 

 the Doctor and his companions on these little islands, neither the eggs 

 nor the young - of the Roseate Tern could be clearly ascertained ; but 

 several eggs were collected, that differed in size, colour, and shape. 



It is more than probable, that this bird will be found hereafter to 

 congregate in other places, not remote from the longitudinal line in 

 which it was first discovered, although it has hitherto passed unnoticed 

 amongst a host of the common tern ; actual inspection enables us 

 to bear record of it as a distinct species, upon ocular evidence, if such 

 could be wanting, in addition to the excellent history given by Doctor 

 M'Dougall. 



ROSE LINNET. — * Fleming has given this appellation to the 

 Redpole, most inappropriately, as it appears to me, particularly when 

 there is an undecided controversy about these linnets ; Temminck 

 holding with Montagu, that there are but two species, the linnet 

 and the redpole, in which he is followed by Selby and Fleming, and 

 opposed by the high authority of Vieillot. 1 I am quite certain that 

 Fleming is wrong in giving Rose Lintie as the Scotch for redpole, and 

 I am equally certain that the call and song of the true Rose Lintie are 

 quite different from those of the linnet. My own observations agree 

 exactly with the following remarks of Syme, so far as the grey and 

 Rose Linnets are concerned, though I am doubtful about his greater 

 redpole. 



"We are rather inclined to think," he says, " that the linnet, grey 

 linnet, or brown linnet, the Red-breasted or Rose Linnet, and the 

 greater redpole, are three distinct birds, but as closely allied to each 

 other as the three species of wagtails are to one another. We shall 

 state our reasons for thinking so. The grey linnet is rather less, 

 and more slender than the redpole. The white on the quills and outer 

 feathers of the tail of the linnet, is broader and brighter than that of the 

 redpole. The bill of the redpole is rather larger, and broader at the 

 base, than that of the linnet. The marks on the breast of the redpole, 

 in all its changes of plumage, run in decided streaks, pointing down- 

 wards, while those on the breast of the linnet are much fainter, and 

 more inclining to an irregular mottled appearance. The eggs of the 

 redpole are of a bluish-white colour, marked with specks and lines of 

 dingy purple, — those of the linnet are reddish-white, freckled with 

 small spots of brownish-orange ; but, above all, the songs of the two 

 birds are different : both are good, but we think that of the linnet the 



1 Mem. della R. Academia de Torino, 1816, pp. 193, &c. 

 F F 2 



