The Redpoll. 



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trous metallic green ; the neck, back, and rump are pale 

 yellowish brown, speckled with blackish brown spots or marks. 

 The wings are dark brown, the coverts being a shade paler, 

 and edged with pale yellowish brown ; the tail is also 

 brown, the outer edges having a narrow margin of paler 

 brown. The throat is black ; the cheeks and neck are 

 bright red, as also the breast ; the belly and vent are of 

 a dingy greyish white ; the sides of the belly are warm 

 reddish brown, and slightly spotted the same as the back ; 

 the legs are brown, and feet black ; the bill is yellowish 

 brown, with a brown line down the centre of the upper 

 mandible, and darkest towards the tip ; eyes dark brown, with 

 stripes of pale yellowish brown over them ; rump of reddish 

 brown. This description is that of a mature male in full 

 colour. 



Habits and Beeeding. — The Eedpoll is an inhabitant of 

 Norway and Sweden, and regions further north. It migrates 

 to this country in the autumn, and returns in the spring, 

 about March or April. Some birds of this species, however, 

 remain in England all the year round, frequenting commons 

 and moorland, especially where there are pools and scrub 

 wood, and where elder and willow trees abound. 



They are known to breed in Staffordshire, Worcester- 

 shire, and Shropshire. The nest is found in willow trees, 

 elder bushes, or scrub wood, and is composed of small twigs 

 of willow or elder, moss, and dried, withered grass, and lined 

 with fur or down. The hen lays four or five eggs, of a 

 pale bluish green, spotted with pale reddish brown, more 

 particularly at the stouter end ; she incubates fourteen days. 

 The young leave the nest at about three weeks old. 



The birds build in retired places, such as coppices that are 

 preserved for breeding game ; they also often build in willow 

 trees at the sides of pools. The birds bred in this country 

 are smaller and less brilliant in plumage than those which 

 visit us from foreign lands. Redpolls in confinement will 

 breed with Brown Linnets, and with their own species : 

 house-moulted birds should be chosen for this purpose, as 

 they are more likely to breed in confinement than newly- 

 caught ones. 



Methods of Capture. — Redpolls, being gregarious in their 

 habits, travel in flocks, and are more easily caught than any 



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