. Our native songsters . Kamtschatka and Siberia. Insome winters large numbers of these redpolescome to us from Norway and Sweden, with moun-tain linnets, siskins, and other birds. It is some-times kept in a cage, when it shortly becomesfamiliar, and feeds out of the hand of its can also be taught a variety of little amusingperformances, but it has no great power? of song,its strain consisting only of a few somewhat melo-dious and oft-repeated twitters. This pretty,graceful bird, seems never at rest, but clings inevery attitude to the boughs, and flits gracefullyabout, while seeking i
. Our native songsters . Kamtschatka and Siberia. Insome winters large numbers of these redpolescome to us from Norway and Sweden, with moun-tain linnets, siskins, and other birds. It is some-times kept in a cage, when it shortly becomesfamiliar, and feeds out of the hand of its can also be taught a variety of little amusingperformances, but it has no great power? of song,its strain consisting only of a few somewhat melo-dious and oft-repeated twitters. This pretty,graceful bird, seems never at rest, but clings inevery attitude to the boughs, and flits gracefullyabout, while seeking its food among the catkins ofthe birch or alder, sometimes stripping for itsnest the ball of the willow of its abundant down * The Lesser Redpole is four inches and a quarter in tipper plumage dark brown with pale edges; forehead andbreast crimson ; throat black ; under parts pale brown, streakedwith darker brown on the sides; beak and feet brown. Thefemales and young males are without the red on the THE LESSEE REDPOLE. 307 with SO mucli earnestness, tliat its whole heartseems intent on this labour of love. It is only, however, in the north of our islandthat this nest is made, and the young ones reared;and there, too, the bird loves for its dwelling thesecluded wilds, far away from the homes of man,and where nothing can be heard but the song ofthe mountain shepherd, or the music of the stream,as it winds its way through sedges and wild thickets on the mountain, or hill side, wherethe trees and bushes are refreshed by the waters,are the retreats of the lesser redpole; and there,beneath the shelter of some thick bush, the nestis hidden. It is made of mosses and dry grasses,mixed with the plentiful willow down, and awarm lining is made also of this soft, silky mate-rial. The eggs are of a pale blue green, spottedwith olive brown. Macgillivray remarks, thatthis bird remains all the year in many parts ofScotland. He adds, that he has seen them inA
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1853
