36 
NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
grate through Holland into Italy/' Now I want to know, from 
some curious person in the north, whether there are any large 
flocks of these finches with them in the winter, and of which 
sex they mostly consist ? For, from such intelligence, one might 
be able to judge whether our female flocks migrate from the 
other end of the island, or whether they come over to us from 
the continent.* 
We have, in the winter, vast flocks 
of the common linnets ; more, I think, 
than can be bred in any one district 
These, I observe, when the spring 
advances, assemble on some tree in 
the sunshine, and join all in a gentle 
sort of chirping, as if they were about 
to break up their winter quarters and 
betake themselves to their proper summer-home s.f It is well 
« It is stated by Mr. Selby that *' in Northumberland and Scotland, this separating takes 
place about the month of November; and" that, "from that period till the return of spring, few 
females are to be seen, and these few in distinct societies.'^ This, however, requires a little 
qualifying, as there are many of both sexes that remain throughout the winter, and do not flock, 
even in the warmer parts of Scotland. In ordinary winters in the south of England, a very large 
proportion of them certainly do not congregate ; and, of those that do, the sexes are not invari- 
ably apart, but associate together along with yellow-buntings, green gross-beaks, and sometimes 
mouutain-spinks, or "bramble-finches." Once or twice I have met with flocks of white-winged 
spinks, or "chaffinches," consisting entirely of hens, in Kent and Surrey, which I suspect were 
from the north, but such flocks are here of comparatively rare occurrence, being the exception 
rather than the rule. — Ed. 
t *' Ev3ry one," observes Sir W. Jardine, in one of his excellent notes to the 8vo. edition of 
Wilson's Ornithology, " who has lived much in the country, must have often remarked the com- 
mon European linnets congregating towards the close of a fine winter's evening, perched on the 
summit of some bare tree, pluming themselves in the last rays of the sun, chirruping the com- 
mencement of their evening song, and then bursting simultaneously into one general chorus, 
again resuming their single strains, and again joining, as if happy, and rejoicing at the termina- 
tion of their day's employment." No particular allusion is here made to the approach of spring, 
which agrees with my own observation. It is remarkable that the males of our different species 
of linnet (sub-genus linaria), in confinement, never acquire the bright crimson and roseate tints 
which (chiefly in summer) more or less distinguish all of them in a state of nature. The feathers 
on the crown of the head and breast of the common species (fringilla linaria cannabina)* which, 
in the wild state, arc in winter dark brownish red, and are then fringed with deciduous dusky 
edgings, and which in the spring gradually change to a brilliant carmine, the tips, having by 
degrees disappeared, are in the cage produced of a dull sombre brown colour, a slight shine on 
them just intimating where the brighter hue is situate in the wild birds; and, although the 
deciduous fringes, or tips of the feathers, do partially wear off" in due time, the coloui of the 
featker itself undergoes not the slightest change during the whole summer. The males of the 
common dwarf-linnet or "lesser redpole" (fringilla linaria ptisilla) ^ and of the closely allied mealy 
linnet, or "greater" or "stony redpole"* {fringilla linaria canescens), after moulting in the 
cage, become of a saffron tint upon the crown of the head and breast, somewhat similar to that 
on the heads of the wild females ; and the bright roseate tint above the tail of the male mountain- 
linnet or "twite" {fringilla linaria wontana), gives place in captivity to alike hue. None of 
the red-breasted linnets acquire, in the wild state, their full colours till after the second moult. — Ed. 
* The latter term I have invariably found to be applied by the London bird-catchers to this 
gpecies, and not to the common and smaller one, as it is stated in the books. 
