42 



LESSER RED-POLL. 

 FRINGILLA LINARIA. 

 [Plate XXX.— Fig. 4.] 



Lath. II, 305.—Arct. ZooL 379,— Le Sizeren, Buff. IV, 216. PL enl 151, 2.— 



Peale's Museum, No. 6579. 



THIS bird corresponds so exactly in size, figure and color of 

 plumage with that of Europe, of the same name, as to place their 

 identity beyond a doubt. They inhabit during summer the most 

 northern parts of Canada and still more remote northern countries, 

 from whence they migrate at the commencement of winter. They 

 appear in the Gennesee country with the first deep snow, and on that 

 account are usually called by the title of Snow-birds. As the fe- 

 male is destitute of the crimson on the breast and forehead, and 

 the young birds do not receive that ornament till the succeeding 

 spring, such a small proportion of the individuals that form these 

 flocks are marked with red, as to induce a general belief among the 

 inhabitants of those parts that they are two different kinds asso- 

 ciated together. Flocks of these birds have been occasionally seen 

 in severe winters in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. They seem 

 particularly fond of the seeds of the common alder, and hang, head 

 downwards, while feeding, in the manner of the Yellow-bird. They 

 seem extremely unsuspicious at such times, and will allow a very 

 near approach without betraying any symptoms of alarm. 



The specimen represented in the plate was shot, with several 

 others of both sexes, in Seneca county, between the Seneca and 

 Cayuga lakes. Some individuals were occasionally heard to chant 

 a few interrupted notes, but no satisfactory account can be given 

 of their powers of song. 



