LESSER RED-POLL. 
267 
177 . FRINGILLA LIN ARIA, LINN. AND WILS. — LESSER RED-POLL. 
WILSON, PLATE XXX. FIG. IV. MALE. — EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
. This bird corresponds so exactly in size, figure, and 
colour of plumage, with that of Europe of the same 
name, as to place their identity beyond a doubt. They 
inhabit, during summer, the most northern parts of 
Canada, and still more remote northern countries, from 
whence they migrate at the commencement of winter. 
They appear in the Gennesee country with the first 
deep snow, and on that account are usually called by 
the title of snow birds. As the female is destitute of 
the crimson on the breast and forehead, and the young 
birds do not receive that ornament till the succeeding 
spring, such a small proportion of the individuals that 
form these flocks are marked with red, as to induce a 
general belief among the inhabitants of those parts that 
they are two different kinds associated together. Flocks 
of these birds have been occasionally seen in severe 
winters in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. They 
seem particularly fond of the seeds of the common alder, 
and hang, head downwards, while feeding, in the man- 
ner of the yellow bird. They seem extremely unsus- 
picious at such times, and will allow a very near 
approach without betraying any symptoms of alarm. 
The specimen from which this description was taken, 
was shot, with several others of both sexes, in Seneca 
county, between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes. Some 
individuals were occasionally heard to chant a few 
interrupted notes, but no satisfactory account can be 
given of their powers of song. 
This species extends throughout the whole northern 
parts of Europe, is likewise found in the remote wilds 
of Russia, was seen by Steller in Kamtschatka, and 
probably inhabits corresponding climates round the 
whole habitable parts of the northern hemisphere. In 
the Highlands of Scotland they are common, building 
often on the tops of the heath, sometimes in a low 
furze bush, like the common linnet, and sometimes on 
