LINOTA CANNABINA.

Linnet.

Fringilla cannabina, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 87.
linota, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 916.
Ligurinus cannabina, Koch, Syst. Baier. Zool., tom. i. p23!
Linaria cannabina, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 554.
Cannabina pinetorum, et arbustorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., pp. 276, 277.
linota, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 1840, p. 45.
Linota cannabina, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 54,

Tue Linnet is one of our strictly indigenous birds, as much so as the Thrush, the Blackbird, or the Magpie,
but is less frequently noticed ; for although it may often be seen on the wing, few who observe it know rohiat
it really is, or distinguish it from a Sparrow or a Greenfinch. When fully adult the males are extremely
beautiful, their crown and chest being washed in early spring with a delicate rosy hue, which heightens as
the season advances ; hence at midsummer they are finer than at the nuptial period, the grey tips of the
feathers, which overlap their roseate portions, having fallen of, leaving the underlying scarlet more exposed,
besides which the colour itself appears to increase in depth until the autumnal moult, when the bird assumes
the nearly uniform warmer clothing of winter.

The distribution of this common species over the three kingdoms is so very general that even the Orkneys
and the Hebrides are not without its presence. Although its nature leads it to prefer barren tracts of country,
furzy commons and wastes bordering woods, it readily accommodates itself to the most highly cultivated
districts, often frequenting gardens, lawns, and shrubberies, especially those to which open fields are
contiguous. In April and May it constructs a round cup-shaped nest among the shrubs of pleasure-grounds
and the furze and gorse of our common lands; in the latter case it is subject to much persecution by the
village boys who wantonly take its eggs, and in the former it is shot by the gardener on account of its habit
of pilfering his radish-seeds while in pod.

When the breeding-season is over and the young have their pinions perfected, the Linnets become gre-
garious, and assemble in flocks. During the winter months they leave the gardens and furzy commons,
where they have spent the summer, and betake themselves to the open parts of the country, visiting pasture-
lands, clover leys, stubble-fields, and even farm-lands ; and should the winter prove rigorous, they seek the
warmer countries, and perhaps leave our islands altogether for a time.

The Linnet, like the Goldfinch, the Siskin, and the Redpole, contributes greatly to the support of many
poor people, being the principal ‘stock in trade” of the numerous bird-catchers and bird-dealers of the
metropolis. ‘The number of persons engaged in its capture and sale are indeed far greater than is usually
supposed ; and a statistical account of them, could it be correctly ascertained, would be both interesting
and surprising. It is not its pleasing colour alone that renders the Linnet such a favourite cage-bird ;
being a seed-, and not an insect-eater, it is easily kept, readily succumbs to captivity, soon becomes tame
and familiar, and during the months of spring constantly cheers its possessor with its pleasing innocent
song. Its natural food is the seeds of many of our common weeds, the wild rape, and the dandelion ; but it
would seem that it occasionally does much damage among the fields of wheat and other grain. The gravest
charge I have heard brought against it was made by Mr. Smither of Churt, a close observer of nature and
no mean authority in matters of the kind. Writing to me in July 1863, he says :—‘* No one would believe

the damage done to wheat this season by the Linnets, unless they saw it; in many places the ground is
I have seen spots of standing wheat the ears of which

covered with chaff, and the ears entirely emptied.
s the loss by these birds at the

were covered with Linnets; and a farmer I was with this morning estimate

rate of two sacks in an acre and a half of wheat: he was greatly pleased therefore at my shooting some of

them. Whether they overbalance the damage they commit by the quantity of weed-seeds they consume, I

: Se cea eas alae ink ; not quite understand
cannot say. ‘Punch’ writes very strongly in favour of small birds ; but I think he does | ‘

the nature of them.” .
in the British Islands, the Linnet 1s also found all over Europe from

Africa, and in Madeira; I have myself seen it in abundance in the
ast as Asia Minor and Persia is certain, as I have thence
1 India; neither does it form part of the

Besides being very common
Lapland to the Mediterranean, in North
Maltese group of islands; and that it goes as far e
received specimens. I am not aware of its having been found 1
avifauna of America.

pa cereeeac es ‘ets collect into flocks, which unite as the winter
‘‘ Towards the end of autumn,” says Macgillivray, the Linnets colle ,