TWITE flNCH. 



fous white, with the throat marked with blackish 

 spots : belly white : legs brown or black. Like the 

 Redpole, this bird is subject to great variety in 

 respect to the red markings ; the breast being 

 found of that colour as well as the head and rump. 

 The Mountain Linnet is a variety of this species, 

 differing in being rather larger, and in having the 

 beak pale : the head dusky, edged with cinereous, 

 and no traces of crimson on it : the throat and 

 breast blackish, with pale edges : wings and tail 

 dusky : tips of the greater coverts and secondaries 

 whitish : legs pale brown : females of both varie- 

 ties without the red on the rump. 



Twites are observed in the flight season near 

 London, with other Linnets, and are taken together 

 by the bird-catchers : they breed in the northern 

 parts of England, and their nest is composed of 

 moss and roots of plants mixed with heath, and 

 lined with finer heath and fibrous roots : their eggs 

 are the size of the Linnet's, of a blueish white, 

 faintly spotted with purplish red at the larger end. 



It is very probable that this species received its 

 name from its twittering unmusical note, which 

 the bird-catchers are so well acquainted with that 

 they can tell whether there be any Twites among 

 a flock of Linnets, merely from this circumstance. 

 It is a native of many parts of Europe. 



