^GIOTHUS RUFESCENS. 
Lesser Redpole, 
Fringilla Jlavirostris, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 322 } 
ru/escens, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxxi. p. 342. 
linaria (partim), Temm. Man, d’Orn., 2nd edit. tom. i. p. 373, and tom. iii. p. 167. 
Linaria minor, Selby, 111. Brit. Orn., vol. i. p. 320. 
Linota linaria, Yarr. Hist, of Brit. Birds, edit, of 1838, vol. i. p. 514. 
Fringilla (^Acanthis) linaria. Keys. & Bias. Wirbelth. Eur., p. xli. 
Linaria rufescens, Degl. Orn. Eur., tom. i. p. 239. 
Acanthis rufescens, Bonap. et Schleg. Monog. des Loxiens, pi. 54. 
Mgiothis rufescens. Cab. Mus. Ilein., Tbeil i. p. 161, note. 
The Lesser Redpole is an extremely neat and trim little bird, and one of the smallest members of its 
numerous family, the FringilUdcs, It is strictly a native of Britain, where it is to be found in all situations 
suitable to its habits, both in winter and summer. During the former season it resorts to the low and fluvi- 
atile districts where the alder flourishes, the seeds of which appear to constitute a favourite article of food ; 
in summer it affects the orchards, gardens, and hedgerows, but only of certain districts, for there are whole 
counties in which, at this period, it is not to be seen. On the continent of Europe it is by no means so 
generally dispersed as with us ; and although it must be regarded as a northern rather than a southern 
species, its northern range is very limited when compared with that of the Mealy Redpole ; for instead of 
extending throughout Norway and Sweden, it only just reaches the most southern province (Scania) of the 
latter country ; and consequently it is almost impossible that the present bird should have been the Lesser 
Redpole of Linnaeus. Further south than France or Germany it does not seem to occur, except as a winter 
migrant. Its eastern range is wider; for I have specimens from Japan, and Mr. Swinhoe states that it 
“ comes down into North China from Amoorland in winter.” 
It is strictly gregarious, and, as autumn approaches, assembles in flocks of considerable numbers, 
when the blrdcatcher makes his harvest, and many thousands are yearly captured and sold in the 
metropolis, its tame and confiding disposition, and the readiness with which it settles itself in its little cage, 
rendering it a general favourite. Of its song little can be said ; but it may be easily taught to draw up its 
own supply of water, and to perform other amusing little feats. Among the branches of the trees it is 
amazingly active, and, when engaged in search of its favourite seeds, assumes many elegant positions, 
hanging at one moment to the tips of the twigs, and creeping about among the catkins at another. It rarely 
descends to the ground, except it be to search for fallen seeds or to examine the flowers of the thistle and 
other plants that may offer it a change of diet. It)s powers of flight are amply sufficient to enable it to 
cross the moorlands, and pass from one part of the country to another. 
Of its breeding in England Mr. Stevenson writes, in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ “ The Lesser Redpole may be 
regarded as a resident in this country as well as a regular and, in some seasons, very numerous visitant. 
Its nest is found year after year in certain favourite localities. I have known as many as four taken in one 
summer from a garden at Bramerton, which has been a favourite resort of these little creatures for a con- 
siderable time, and they also breed regularly at Eaton, near Norwich, whence I have received young birds 
in August, as well as their delicate blue and speckled eggs, and the exquisite little structure in which they 
were laid. In these localities the nests have been mostly found in the apple- and cherry-trees, but Mr. 
Alfred Newton Informed Mr. Hewitson that near Thetford, where it also breeds yearly, the nests are placed 
‘ close to the trunk of trees in plantations of young larch firs of no great height,’ though he once found one 
at least sixty feet from the ground, and placed near the outer end of a brauch. In Suffolk several nests 
have been found by Mr. Dashwood in the neighbourhood of Beccles. The Lesser Redpole often retains in 
confinement, throughout the winter, the rosy tints on the head and breast, which properly belong to its 
breeding-plumage. A male in my aviary, netted in November 1863, and chosen from many for the beauty 
of its plumage, did not lose its pinky hue until the autumnal moult of 1864 ; once lost, however, by the 
actual shedding of the feathers, the red breast is not resumed, and even the red poll changes to a dull 
yellow — the effect, no doubt, of an artificial state of existence.” It breeds quite as freely about Halifax, in 
Yorkshire, whence I have received some beautiful nests; according to the late Mr. John AYolley, it does the 
same near Beeston in Nottinghamshire ; his brother found its nests in Warwickshire ; Mr. Briggs in 
Derbyshire ; and many other localities might be enumerated. In Scotland it breeds beside the wild moun- 
tain lakes, in little thickets of birch, and among the alders wherever they occur ; and we learn from 
Thompson that it frequents many parts of Ireland, from north to south. 
