Conspicuously Red of any Shade 
The Redpoll 
(Acanthis linaria) Finch family 
Called also : REDPOLL LINNET; LITTLE SNOWBIRD; LESSER 
REDPOLL 
Length — 5.25 to 5.5 inches. About an inch shorter than the Eng- 
lish sparrow. 
Male — A rich crimson wash on head, neck, breast, and lower 
back, that is sometimes only a pink when we see the bird in 
midwinter. Grayish-brown, sparrowy feathers show under- 
neath the red wash. Dusky wings and tail, the feathers 
more or less edged with whitish. Soiled white underneath; 
the sides with dusky streaks. Bill sharply pointed. 
Female — More dingy than male, sides more heavily streaked, and 
having crimson only on the crown. 
Range— An arctic bird that descends irregularly into the northern 
United States. 
Migrations — An irregular winter visitor. 
“Ere long, amid the cold and powdery snow, as it were a 
fruit of the season, will come twittering a flock of delicate crim- 
son-tinged birds, lesser redpolls, to sport and feed on the buds 
just ripe for them on the sunny side of a wood, shaking down 
the powdery snow there in their cheerful feeding, as if it were 
high midsummer to them.” Thoreau’s beautiful description of 
these tiny winter visitors, which should be read entire, shows 
the man in one of his most sympathetic, exalted moods, and it is 
the best brief characterization of the redpoll that we have. 
When the arctic cold becomes too cruel for even the snow- 
birds and crossbills to withstand, flocks of the sociable little red- 
polls flying southward are the merest specks in the sullen, gray 
sky, when they can be seen at all. So high do they keep that 
often they must pass above our heads without our knowing it. 
First we see a quantity of tiny dots, like a shake of pepper, in the 
cloud above, then the specks grow larger and larger, and finally 
the birds seem to drop from the sky upon some tall tree that they 
completely cover — a veritable cloudburst of birds. Without 
pausing to rest after the long journey, down they flutter into the 
weedy pastures with much cheerful twittering, to feed upon 
whatever seeds may be protruding through the snow. Every 
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