The Redpole. BIRDS. The House Si'akkow. 359 
with the addition of hair or featliers. The eggs are 
four or five in number, and the birds rear at least two 
broods in the season. The Linnet feeds on seeds 
of various kinds, especially those of crucifcsrous 
plants; it is also partial to the seeds of flax, whence 
probably its name is derived. It has an agreeable 
song, for the sake of which it is very commonly kept 
in captivity. 
THE EEDPOLE {Linota linaria), which is nearly 
allied to the Linnet, is to a certain extent a migratory 
bird in this country ; for, although it is a permanent 
resident in Scotland, and even in some of the northern 
counties of England, by far the greater number of 
those seen in Britain come to us in the autumn from 
the more northern parts of Europe. It is a diminutive 
bird, measuring little more than four inches in length ; 
the general colour of its plumage is brown, palest be- 
neath ; the back is spotted with dark brown. The quill 
feathers of the wings are nearly black, but edged with 
pale brown ; the chin is black, and the flanks streaked 
with dark brown. The forehead is deep crimson, and 
the breast of the male is strongly tinged with red. 
This elegant little bird has a very wide geographical 
range, extending apparently throughout the northern 
parts of both hemispheres. It is found abundantly in 
the arctic regions, and even visits the inhospitable 
shores of Spitzbergen, near which several specimens 
alighted on Captain Scoresby’s ship. During its winter 
residence in Britain the Redpole is seen in considerable 
flocks frequenting woods and plantations, where it feeds 
upon the seeds of various trees, especially the birch and 
the alder. Its nest is built in a bush or low tree, and 
is composed of moss, grass, and the down from the 
catkins of the willow ; the latter substance also forms 
the lining, and furnishes a soft and warm bed for the 
eggs and young. It is a familiar and affectionate little 
bird, and may be easily trained to perform a few tricks, 
for which reason it is often kept in confinement, although 
its song is merely a feeble twittering. 
THE MEALY EEDPOLE [Linota canescens) is a larger 
species than the preceding, which it closely resembles 
in general appearance. It is found in the northern 
parts of both hemispheres, migrating towards the south 
for the winter; at which season it occurs, although 
seldom in any abundance, in Britain. 
THE MOUNTAIN LINNET {Linota mjntiurn) also 
frequently called the Twite, is a common species in the 
north of England and in Scotland, where it dwells 
throughout the year and breeds^ but makes its appear- 
ance in our southern counties only during the winter. 
It measures about five inches and a quarter in length, 
the same as the Mealy Redpole, but is of a more slender 
form, and furnished with a longer tail ; and it has no 
red either on the head or the breast. This bird resides 
upon hills and mountains, and builds amongst the 
heath. 
THE GEEENFINCH {Clilorospiza Chloris) is one of 
the commonest of British birds, and is a permanent 
resident in the cultivated districts of our islands. It 
occurs in most parts of the continent of Europe, and is 
enumerated amongst the birds found by Kittlitz in the 
island of Bonin, situated more than four hundred miles 
to the east of Japan. It is distinguished from the pre- 
ceding species by the stoutness of its short conical hill, 
in which character it somewhat resembles the Gosbeaks. 
The general colour of the plumage isyellow or yellowish, 
becoming olive-green on the back ; tlie wing primaries 
are grayish-black, with two-thirds of their outer edges 
bright yellow; the tail-feathers are grayish-brown, with 
the basal half of all, except the two middle ones, bright 
yellow. The female is of a pale brown colour, more or 
less tinged with yellow and green. The male is rather 
more than six inches in length ; the female a little 
smaller. 
The Greenfinch frequents gardens, orchards, and 
woods, resorting in the winter to shrubberies and plan- 
tations of evergreens for protection from the inclemency 
of the weather. Its food consists of seeds of various 
kinds. Its nest is built in a hedge or bush, rarely in a 
tree, and composed externally of roots, moss, and wool, 
lined with fine root-fibres, hair, and feathers. 
THE HOUSE SPAEEOW {Passer domestlcus) . TJiis 
abundant and well-known British bii'd appears to be 
generally distributed over the whole northern part of 
the eastern hemisphere, and everywhere exhibits the 
same fondness for the habitations of man, so that, as 
Mr. Yarrell remarks, “ from the thatch of the cottage 
of the peasant to the elaborately ornamented architec- 
ture of the palace of the prince, all buildings are alike 
subject to its intrusion.” The nest of this bird is in fact 
built in any cranny that aflbrds it a secure resting-place, 
and in London, and other large cities, the architectural 
ornaments of buildings are not unfrequently disfigured 
by the protrusion of straws carried into some sheltered 
nook by the sparrows. A curious example of this has 
been furnished by the crocodile, which forms one of 
the adornments of the pediment of the British Museum. 
The sparrows, with a great contempt for the skill of the 
sculptor, took it into their heads that tlu! constantly 
open mouth of this stone-monster would furnisli an 
excellent shelter for their nests, and accordingly carried 
in such quantities of straw that it protruded freely from 
between his teeth, as though he were engaged in the 
consumption of this somewhat unnatural food. Some- 
times, however, the sparrow builds in some tree in agar- 
den or orchard, conqiosing its nest of Iiay and straw, and 
furnishing it with a dome ; wherever the nest is made, 
it is always lined with a profusion ot feathers. Sparrows 
usually roar three broods in the year, laying from four 
to six eggs at each time. They feed their young with' 
great assiduity, principally upon caterpillars ; and if wo 
consider the number of those destructive insects which 
must be destroyed by them in the course of each 
summer, it will appear that they amply repay us for 
any plunder that they may commit in the corn-field 
and poultry yard. A singular and interesting instance 
of the attachment of sparrows to their oirsj)ring is given 
in the first volume of the “Zoological Journal,” where 
it is stated that a pair of these birds, which had built 
in the thatch of a house at Poole, being observed to 
continue their visits to the nest, even until the winter 
had set in, it was found on examination that one of 
their young ones had been detained by a piece of 
string, or worsted, accidentally twisted round its legs ; 
as it was thus prevented from going abroad to seek 
its own living, its parents had continued to feed it. 
