124 
LESSEE REDPOLL LINNET. 
and I suspect that they do not acquire any redness until the approach of 
spring. The old birds were moulting at the period mentioned, and from 
their appearance I concluded that all their red feathers are reassumed each 
spring. The eggs, from four to six in number, measure five-eighths in 
length, rather more than half an inch in diameter, and are pale bluish- 
green, sparingly dotted with reddish-brown toward the larger end. 
From Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Maine, in winter ; inland, to 
Kentucky. Breeds in Maine, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, and 
the Fur Countries. Abundant. Migratory. 
Lesser Redpoll, Fringilla Unarm, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iv. p. 42. 
Fringilla linaria, Bonap. Syn., p. 112. 
Linaria minor, Lesser Redpoll , Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. i. p. 267. 
Lesser Redpoll, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 512. 
Lesser Redpoll, Fringilla linaria, And. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 533. 
Adult Male in summer. 
Bill short, strong, conical, compressed toward the end, extremely acute ; 
upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge narrow, the sides 
convex, the edges sharp and overlapping, without notch, the tip acuminate, 
lower mandible with the angle short and semicircular, the dorsal line 
straight, the ridge broadish at the base, the sides convex, the edges 
sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nostrils basal, roundish, covered by 
stiffish reversed feathers. 
Head of moderate size, roundish ; neck short ; body moderate. Feet of 
moderate length, slender; tarsus compressed, anteriorly covered with a few 
scutella, of which the upper are blended, posteriorly with two longitudinal 
plates meeting at a very acute angle ; toes slender, the first with its claw 
as long as the third with its claw ; the lateral toes equal. Claws large, 
moderately arched, much compressed, acute. 
Plumage soft, rather blended, with very little gloss, unless on the red 
parts. Wings of ordinary length, the first three quills almost equal, but 
the second longest. Tail rather long, forked. 
Bill yellowish, the upper mandible dusky on the ridge ; iris brown ; feet 
blackish-brown. AJband edging the forehead, the loral space, and the throat, 
brownish-black ; the reversed feathers on the base of the bill yellowish ; the 
crown of the head crimson; the hind part of the head, the neck, the fore 
part of the back, and the scapulars yellowish-brown, longitudinally streaked 
with blackish-brown, the feathers on the hind part of the back margined 
with whitish, and tipped with carmine; the wings and tail dusky, with yel- 
lowish-brown edges, and two transverse bands of the same on the tips of the 
first row of small coverts and the secondary coverts. The sides of the neck, 
