The Brown Linnet. 



133 



the secondaries are brown. The tail is dingy black, with a 

 narrow edging of white on the sides of each feather. The 

 inner wing coverts are white. The sides of the breast and 

 belly are of a very warm russet brown. The belly and a 

 narrow stripe up the centre of the breast are pale whitish 

 brown, with a ring of bright brown dividing the throat from 

 the breast. 



The throat is brown, marked with two stripes of pale 

 greyish brown striking downwards to the neck, and turning 

 in a sort of semicircular form at the bottom, up each 

 side, at the junction of the neck. The bill is dark brown, 

 bordering on black, the under part of the mandible being 

 much paler, and of a greyish brown colour ; in summer time 

 it changes to a dingy blue hue. The eyes are dark brown, 

 almost black. The legs and feet are dark brown, and the 

 thighs pale brown. The rump is pale brown, intermixed 

 with whitish brown feathers, with black spots in the centre 

 of them. 



There is a variety of Linnet called by some fanciers the 

 Eose Linnet, and by others, the " Stubble Bird." It is 

 similar in its general plumage to the bird already described, 

 but on the forehead are some deep red spots, commingled 

 with the brown ones, and on each side of the breast a 

 quantity of bright red spots. This plumage is attained at 

 the age of three years. At two years, these spots are more 

 of a deep yellow or pale orange colour, and they deepen 

 and intensify as the bird grows older. When a Linnet 

 possessing the red spots on the head and breast is moulted 

 in confinement, the colour gradually disappears, the bird 

 at each succeeding moult becoming browner. 



Males of one year old have no red spots on the head, 

 but the dark brown ones are more numerous, and the back 

 is marked with blackish brown spots, and others of a chestnut 

 white colour. Birds which are hand-reared, and kept in 

 conjSnement, never have any red spots, either on the head 

 or breast. 



Habits and Breeding. — The Brown Linnet is a bird 

 common to most countries, and is to be found plentifully 

 dispersed in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland. It is 

 migratory in its tendencies and gregarious in its habits. As 

 soon as the autumn arrives, these birds rove from place to 



