36 
LESSER REDPOLL. 
the former of which he describes as 4 destitute of the crimson 
on the forehead/ and the latter 4 not receiving that ornament 
till the succeeding spring.’ When Mr Wilson procured his 
specimens, it was in the autumn, previously to their receiving 
their perfect winter dress ; and he was never afterwards aware 
of his error, owing to the circumstance of these birds seldom 
appearing in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. Con- 
siderable flocks of them, however, have visited us this wdnter 
(1813-14;) and we have been enabled to procure several line 
specimens of both sexes, from the most perfect of which we 
have taken the following description. We will add, that 
having had the good fortune to observe a flock, consisting of 
nearly an hundred, within a few feet of them, as they were 
busily engaged in picking the seeds of the wild orache,* we 
can, with confidence, assert, that they all had the red patch 
on the crown ; but there were very few which had the red 
rump and breast : the young males, it is probable, are not 
thus marked until the spring, and the females are destitute of 
that ornament altogether. 
44 The Lesser Redpoll is five inches and a quarter in length, 
and eight inches and a half in breadth ; the bill is pale yellow, 
ridged above and below with dark horn colour, the upper 
mandible projecting somewhat over the lower at the tip ; irides, 
dark hazel ; the nostrils are covered with recumbent, hair-like 
feathers, of drab colour ; a line of brown extends from the 
eyes, and encircles the base of the bill, forming, in some 
specimens, a patch below the chin ; the crown is ornamented 
with a pretty large spot of deep shining crimson ; the throat, 
breast, and rump, stained with the same, but of a more delicate 
red ; the belly is of a very pale ash, or dull white ; the sides 
are streaked with dusky ; the whole upper parts are brown or 
dusky ; the plumage, edged with yellowish white and pale ash, 
the latter most predominant near the rump ; wings and tail, 
dusky; the latter is forked, and consists of twelve feathers 
edged with white ; the primaries are very slightly tipt and 
edged with white, the secondaries more so ; the greater and 
* Atriplex hastata, Linn. 
