ÆGrlQTHüS SUHESCEKS.
ÆGLOTHUS RUFESCENS.
Lesser Redpole.
Fringilla flavirostris, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 322 ?
---------- rufetcens, "Vieiil. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., töm. xxxi. p. 342.
---------- linaria (partim), Temm. Man. d'Orn., 2nd ed it tom. i. p. 373, and tom. iii. p. 167.
Linaria minor, Selby, ill, Brit. Orn., vol. i. p. 320.
Linota Imaria, Yarr. Hist, of Brit. Birds, ed it of 1838, vol. i. p. 514.
Fringilla ( Acanthis) linaria, Keys. & Bias Wirbelth. Eur., p. xli.
Linaria ru/escens, Degl. Orn. Eur., tom. i. p. 239.
Acanthis rvfetatnt. Ronap. et Schleg. Monog. des Loxiens. pi. 54.
jEghikus rufetem», Cab. Mus. Hein.; Theil i. p. 161, note.
T h e Lesser Redpole is an extremely neat and trim little bird, and one of the smallest members of its
numerous family^ the Fringillidoe. 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. 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
specie*. : rtherii range is very limited when compared with that of the Mealy Redpole ; for instead of
extend*** Norwav and Sweden, it only just reaches the most southern province (Scania) of the
latter (munir* z é é t v -sr-riv it is almost impossible that the present bird should bave been the Lesser
Redpole of i. a ■.;.■■ ■ 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 Arooorland in winter.”
It is strietiv and, as autumn approaches, assembles in flocks of considerable numbers,
when the birdcatefeer mokes his harvest, and many thousands are yearly captured aud.5.;soId in the
metropolis, its ran- and confiding disposition, and the readiness with which it settles itself in itsAittleWage,
rendering it a general favourite. Of its song little can be said ; but it may be easily taug^Vo maw up its
own supply of water, and to perform other amusing little feats. Among the branches t>f 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
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 oiler it a change of diet. Its powers of flight are amply sufficient to enable it to
cross th e 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 * resident in ¡l< - 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 Brawertdn, which has been a favourite resort of these little creatures for a considerable
time, aw A they also breed regularly at Eaton, near Norwich, whence I have received young birds
in August, as welt aa their ddheate blue and speckled eggs, and the exquisite little structure in which they
were laid. Iu these localities the nests bave 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
« c]ose t0 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, ami placed near the outer end of a branch. In Suffolk several nests
have been found by Mr. Bash wood in the neighbourhood of Beccles. The Lesser Redpole often retains in
confinement, throughout the winter, the ro»v tint, on the head and (treast, which properly belong to it,
breeding-plumage. A male in my aviary, netted iu November 1863, and chosen from many for thé beauty
of its plumage, did not lose its pinky hue until the autumnal moult of 1864 ; once lost, however, by the
actual shedding of the feathers, the red breast is not resumed, and even the red poll changes to a dull
yellow—-the effect, no doubt, of an artificial state of existence.” It breeds quite as freely about Halifax, in
Yorkshire, whence I have received some beautiful nests ; according to the late Mr. John Woiley, it does the
same near Beeston in Nottinghamshire ; his brother found its nests in Warwickshire ; Mr. Briggs in
Derbyshire ; and many other localities might be enumerated. In Scotland it breeds beside the wild mountain
lakes, in little thickets of birch, and among the alders wherever they occur; and we learn from
Thompson that it frequeuts many parts of Ireland, from north to south.