abundant for a time; but not a single Lesser Redpole
scarcely was then to be g o t; and Mr. Gould mentions that
in the year 1829, the Mealy Redpoles were again particularly
abundant, and were caught in great numbers.
The best specimens I possess of this bird were given me
by my friend Mr. Henry Doubleday of Epping, who supplied
me also with the following observations. “ During a visit to
Colchester in January 1836, I observed some Redpoles
feeding on the alder, in company with the Siskin. On
shooting some, they proved to be the Mealy Redpole, and I
am convinced were all of this species, as I could plainly see
their pale or nearly white rumps. A friend from Colchester
brought me a pair alive; these I kept some time, and there
was certainly a difference in their note, being sharper; but
as they had been kept some weeks with a number of Canaries,
I thought it possible that the Mealy Redpoles had
caught part of the Canary’s note. When I was at Colchester,
I could form no opinion of the Mealy Redpole’s note in
a wild state, from the continual chatter of the Siskins. In
Charles Lucian Bonaparte’s Catalogue of the Birds of Europe
and North America, three Redpoles are given, viz. our
common one, Linota linama, Linota canescens, Mr. Gould’s
plate of the Mealy Redpole being referred to for this species,
and Linota Borealis, which is stated to inhabit Europe generally
; now I always thought that the Borealis of M. Tem-
minck was our Mealy Redpole. When skinning this bird,
the head has always appeared to me broader than that of the
common species ; but I am sorry that I have not a skull to
make the comparison, as I have had so few specimens of the
Mealy bird.” This desideratum, in further proof of the distinction
between this bird and our common Redpole, I am,
however, enabled to supply from another quarter. Mr. Pelerin,
a Naturalist, living in Great Russell Street, who has prepared
for himself an extensive collection of the crania and skeletons
of animals has most freely allowed me the use of a cranium
of each of our Redpoles from which the representations forming
the subject of the vignette at the end were carefully
drawn, where, in addition to the side and back view of each,
the double parallel lines exhibit at once the comparative
length and breadth of each head.*
In the Museum at Saffron Walden, there is a male of the
Mealy Redpole, which was killed in that neighbourhood in
May 1836, and one shot by Mr. Pelerin at Oundle was sufficiently
advanced in its spring plumage to have acquired a considerable
portion of red colour on the breast; the occurrence of
this species, for such I consider it, is, however, most frequent
in winter; many specimens have been obtained in England,
and some in Scotland. Its habits throughout the year are
probably very similar to those of the Little Common Redpole
next to be described, and with which it has frequently
been confounded. Its food is the seeds of various forest trees.
Thinking it not improbable that the Mealy Redpole,
named canescens by Mr. Gould, as here quoted, may be the
same bird as that which has been called Borealis by Messrs.
Temminck and P. Roux,—the eleventh part of Mr. Gould’s
Birds of Europe having been published, I believe, before the
appearance of the third part of M. Temminck’s Manual,
which contained the Borealis—I may then add, under this
supposed combination, that the geographical range of the
species is very considerable. I t inhabits Scandinavia in
summer; and M. Temminck says he has received specimens
from Greenland, which did not differ from those
which are obtained in Europe. Like most birds which
visit the Arctic Regions, this species is found in the northern
* Mr. Pelerin has prepared a cranium of the Polish Swan, and pointed out
to me the well-marked osteological differences which exist between it and the
head of the common Tame Swan; thus further proving the distinction of the
Polish Swan, which I had named Cygnus immutabilis, from the circumstance of
its producing white cygnets.