268 
FRINGILLA LINARIA. 
the ground. The nest is formed of light stalks of dried 
grass, intermixed with tufts of wool, and warmly lined 
with feathers. The eggs are usually four, white, 
sprinkled with specks of reddish. 
[* Contrary to the usual practice of Mr Wilson, 
he omitted to furnish a particular description of this 
species. But this supplementary notice would not 
have been considered necessary, if our author had 
not fallen into a mistake respecting the markings of the 
female and the young male ; the former of which he 
describes as a destitute of the crimson on the forehead,” 
and the latter “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. Considerable flocks of them, however, 
have visited us this winter (1813-14;) and we have 
been enabled to procure several fine 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,f 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. 
The lesser red-poll 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 
* From this to the end of the article, enclosed within brackets, 
is an addition to Wilson’s article by Mr Old, editor of the 8th 
and 9th volumes of the American edition of the Ornithology , 
f Atriplex hastata , Linn, 
