LESSER REDPOLL 
121 
known to nest in a large number of different 
localities over the greater part of the kingdom, 
and probably does so in many neighbourhoods 
where it has not yet been identified. It is the 
smallest of the Finches found in Britain, and 
easily recognisable by this point alone. In spring, 
summer, and early autumn, the cock bird is 
mottled-brown above, and reddish-pink upon the 
breast, while there is a crimson patch upon the 
head, and a black stripe on the throat ; the wings 
are darker, and banded with reddish-buff. The 
hen is smaller and darker in general colour ; there 
is no red on her breast, though she has the red 
patch upon the head. In winter the red fades 
away, and the Redpoll of both sexes is then a 
dusky, brownish little bird, with a paler streaked 
breast, and a dull buff patch on the wing. It is 
often met with by the side of pools and streams, 
either picking the dry seed catkins of the alder- 
trees, or searching for similar food in the belt of 
vegetable flotsam and jetsam which is washed up 
along the bank by the autumn floods. The nest 
is built in late April or May, in various low 
situations among bushes, hedges, and small trees. 
It is a small and delicate object, made of moss, 
vegetable down, and perhaps a little wool, with a 
few small twigs or stems outside, and a soft, 
smooth lining of down, hair, and feathers. Its 
