1NSESS0RES.
CON IMOS TRES.
F R ING IL L IDÆ .
TH E COMMON L IN N E T .
Linota cannabina.
Fringilla linota, Linnet Finch,
,, cannabina, Red-headed Finch
,, linota, Brown Linnet,
,, cannabina, Greater Redpole,
,, linota, The Linnet,
,, cannabina, Greater Redpole,
,, ,, Brown Linnet, „ » Common ,,
Linaria ,, »
Fringilla ,,, Gros-bec linotte,
P enn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 462.
, „ „ ,, 464.
M ont. Ornith. Diet.
B ewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 205.
» „ „ 201.
Flem. Brit. An. p. 84.
J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 139.
Selby, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 315.
G ould, Birds of Europe, pt. xviii.
T emm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 364
L inota. Generic Characters.—Beak straight, conical, pointed. Nostrils
basal, lateral, concealed by short feathers. Wings long, somewhat pointed ;
the first, second, and third feathers nearly equal in length. Tarsi short: feet
with lateral toes of equal length ; the hind toe and claw as long as that in the
middle; claws slender, acute, and curved. Tail forked.
T h e propriety of advancing tlie Linnets, of which there
are many species, to generic distinction among the Finches,
appears to be admitted by many of the naturalists of the
present day ; but the term Linaria, which has latterly been
applied to them, has been considered objectionable and even
inadmissible, from the circumstance of this word having been
employed in botany more than two hundred years.*
From the great changes which our Common Linnet undergoes
at different periods of the year, it was long supposed
that there were two species included under this name, and
the specific terms linota and cannabina were applied to them,
as a reference to the synonymes of Pennant, Montagu, and
Bewiclc, here quoted, will show. These seasonal changes
and appearances are now better understood, and in the case
of our Common Linnet, under consideration, are known to
constitute only the summer and winter plumage of the same
individual species. I t is obviously an advantage to combine
the two specific words by which the Linnet has hitherto been
systematically known, and I therefore adopt the term Linota
for the generic term, as proposed by Charles Lucian Bonaparte,
Prince of Musignano, in his Geographical and Comparative
List of the Birds of Europe and North America.
One other additional advantage is also gained ; our Lesser
Redpole will still retain the specific name of linaria, by
which it has been so long known, and thus another change
will be avoided.
* The term Linaria was employed in Botany to distinguish certain species
of toadflax, by Fabius Columna, who published in 1616, and this word was
probably so used even before that date. I t was again made use of by Caspar
Bauhim in his Pinax, published in 1671. In 1699 this word was adopted by
Tournefort, in his Institutiones Rei Herbaria., and the characters of the genus
are beautifully illustrated in Tab. 76 of that work; seven species were then described
as belonging to this genus, and the name was continued by Jussieu in
his Genera Plantarum, published in 1789. Linnaeus did not adopt the genus
Linaria, but included the species in his genus Antirrhinum ; in this arrangement,
however, the example of Linnaeus has not been followed by systematic
botanists, who still continue to use and refer to the generic term Linaria.