4EGIOTHUS RUFESCENS.

Lesser Redpole.

Fringilla flavirostris, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. pe oz
——— rufescens, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxxi. p. 342

linaria (partim), Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit. tom. i. p. 373, and tom. ili. p. 167
Linaria minor, Selby, Ill. Brit. Orn. vol. a p- 320. ee
Linota linaria, Yarr. Hist. of Brit. Birds, edit. of 1838, vol. i. p. 514.
Fringilla (Acanthis) linaria, Keys. & Blas. Wirbelth. Eur., Pe; xii,
Linaria rufescens, Deg]. Orn. Eur., tom. i. p. 239.
Acanthis rufescens, Bonap. et Schleg. Monog. des Loxiens, pl. 54.
Aiguothus rufescens, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil i. p- 161, note.

 

[ue Lesser Redpole is an extremely neat and trim little bird, and one of the smallest members of its

It is strictly a native of Britain, where it is to be found in all situations
suitable to its habits, both in winter and summer.

numerous family, the Fringilide.

a During the former season it resorts to the low and fluvi-
atile districts where the alder flourishes, the seeds of which appear to constitute a favourite article of food;
in summer it affects the orchards, gardens, and hedgerows, but only of certain districts, for there are whole
counties in which, at this period, it is not to be seen. On the continent of Europe it is by no means so
generally dispersed as with us; and although it must be regarded as a northern rather than a southern
species, its northern range is very limited when compared with that of the Mealy Redpole ;
extending throughout Norway and Sweden, it only just reaches the most southern province (Scania) of the
latter country; and consequently it is almost impossible that the present bird should have been the Lesser
Redpole of Linneus. Further south than France or Germany it does not seem to occur, except as a winter
migrant. Its eastern range is wider; for I have specimens from Japan, and Mr. Swinhoe states that it
‘“ comes down into North China from Amoorland in winter.”

It is strictly gregarious, and, as autumn approaches, assembles in flocks of considerable numbers,
when the birdcatcher makes his harvest, and many thousands are yearly captured and sold in the
metropolis, its tame and confiding disposition, and the readiness with which it settles itself in its little cage,
rendering it a general favourite. Of its song little can be said; but it may be easily taught to draw up its
own supply of water, and to perform other amusing little feats. Among the branches of the trees it is
amazingly active, and, when engaged in search of its favourite seeds, assumes many elegant positions,

°

hanging at one moment to the tips of the twigs, and creeping about among the catkins at another. It rarely

a

descends to the ground, except it be to search for fallen seeds or to examine the flowers of the thistle and
other plants that may offer it a change of diet. Its powers of flight are amply sufficient to enable it to
cross the moorlands, and pass from one part of the country to another.

Of its breeding in England Mr. Stevenson writes, in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ ‘‘’The Lesser Redpole may be
regarded as a resident in this country as well as a regular and, in some seasons, very numerous visitant.
Its nest is found year after year in certain favourite localities. I have known as many as four taken in one
summer from a garden at Bramerton, which has been a favourite resort of these little creatures for a con-
siderable time, and they also breed regularly at Eaton, near Norwich, whence I have received young birds
in August, as well as their delicate blue and speckled eggs, and the exquisite little structure in which they
were laid. In these localities the nests have been mostly found in the apple- and cherry-trees, but Mr.
Alfred Newton informed Mr. Hewitson that near Thetford, where it also breeds yearly, the nests are placed
‘close to the trunk of trees in plantations of young larch firs of no great height,’ though he once found one
at least sixty feet from the ground, and placed near the outer end of a branch. In Suffolk several nests
have been found by Mr. Dashwood in the neighbourhood of Beccles. The Lesser Redpole often retains in
confinement, throughout the winter, the rosy tints on the head and breast, which properly belong to its
A male in my aviary, netted in November 1863, and chosen from many for the beauty
not lose its pinky hue until the autumnal moult of 1864; once lost, however, by the

the red breast is not resumed, and even the red poll changes to a dull
” Tt breeds quite as freely about Halifax, in

breeding-plumage.

of its plumage, did
actual shedding of the feathers,
yellow—the effect, no doubt, of an artificial state of existence.
Weetchire, whence I have received some beautiful nests ; according to the late Mr. John Wolley, it does the
his brother found its nests in Warwickshire ; Mr. Briggs in

same near Beeston in Nottinghamshire ; . .
In Scotland it breeds beside the wild moun-

Derbyshire; and many other localities might be enumerated. :
tain lakes, in little thickets of birch, and among the alders wherever they occur; avd we learn from

Thompson that it frequents many parts of Ireland, from north to south.

 

for instead of