Fringilla Linaria, Linn.
PLATE CCCLXXV. Male and Female.
When I was in Labrador, my young companions and my son one day (the 27th of July 1833) procured eight individuals of this species, of different sexes and ages. Next morning I went to the place where they had been shot, and found a good number remaining. The first observation I made had reference to their notes, which, instead of resembling those of the Goldfinch, as alleged by an American writer, are very similar to those of the Siskin, and are frequently uttered both when the birds are alighted and while they are on wing. They were in small parties of seven or eight, apparently formed by the members of the same family, and although several of these groups were around me, they did not intermingle until fired at, when they all simultaneously rose on wing, mixed together, and after performing several short evolutions returned to the same bushes, separated into families, and resumed their occupations. When alighted they were quite unsuspecting, and so heedless as to allow a close approach, scarcely regarding my presence, but clinging to the branches, dexterously picking out the seeds of the alder-cones, and occasionally coming to the ground after some which had dropped.
Few birds exhibit a more affectionate disposition than the Little Redpoll, and it was pleasing to see several on a twig feeding each other by passing a seed from bill to bill, one individual sometimes receiving food from his two neighbours at the same time. Occasionally, however, they shewed considerable pugnacity, and one would drive off its companion, inflicting some smart blows upon it with its bill, and uttering a low querulous chatter.
In other portions of the same country, I saw flocks composed of twenty or more individuals flying loosely at a moderate height, in the undulatory manner of the American Goldfinch and Siskin, without, however, making the deep sweeps of the former; suddenly alighting, and at once beginning to search with great expertness between the stems and leaves, picking at the embryo buds while perched over them, like Jays and Titmice.
So hardy is this species, that, according to Dr Richardson, it is a “permanent resident in the Fur Countries, where it may be seen in the coldest weather, on the banks of lakes and rivers, hopping among the reeds and carices, or clinging to their stalks. Although numerous throughout the year, even in the most northern districts, a partial migration takes place, as large flocks visit Pennsylvania for a month or two in severe winters.” The migrations alluded to are of rare occurrence in that State, however, as well as in that of New York. I never saw one of these birds to the westward of the Alleghanies, and none were observed by Dr Townsend or Mr Nuttall on the Columbia River. They are abundant every cold winter in the northern parts of Massachusetts and Maine, as well as in all the British Provinces.
The food of this species consists of buds, seeds of various grasses, berries, and the small leaves of bushes and trees. I have represented a male and a female on a plant which grows abundantly in the localities in which I found it in Labrador.
The many young birds which I examined in the month of August, had the head entirely grey. The feathers of that part, and those on the breast and rump, were of the same colour nearly to the base, which is bluish-grey; and I suspect that they do not acquire any redness until the approach of spring. The old birds were moulting at the period mentioned, and from their appearance I concluded that all their red feathers are reassumed each spring. The eggs, from four to six in number, measure five-eighths in length, rather more than half an inch in diameter, and are pale bluish-green sparingly dotted with reddish-brown toward the larger end.
Fringilla linaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 322.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 458.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis. p. 112.
Lesser Redpoll, Fringilla linaria, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iv. p. 42, pl. 30, fig. 4. Male.
Linaria minor, Lesser Redpoll, Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 267.