Var. holbölli (type of “rostratus”). Wing, 3.00; tail, 2.35; bill, .41 and .30; tarsus, .60; middle toe, .40.
Var. holbölli? (54,477, Kodiak, July). Wing, 2.90; tail, 2.20; bill, .40 and .25; tarsus, .56; middle toe, .32.
♀. No red except on the crown.
Var. linarius (♀ type of “fuscescens”). Wing, 2.80; tail, 2.30; bill, .35 and .25; tarsus, .52; middle toe, .34.
Young (first plumage). (54,478, Kodiak, July.) Streaks covering whole head, neck, and breast; no red (Ridgway).
Hab. Circumpolar regions. In North America breeding in the sub-arctic regions, and in winter descending into the northern United States.
The two races of Æ. linarius are quite differently colored in summer and in winter. In the latter season the plumage is softer and more lax, and the markings better defined, though in autumn with a considerable ochraceous suffusion. In spring the colors are purer, and the markings most sharply
defined; in the breeding-season the plumage assumes a burnt appearance, the dark tints intensify and spread, so that sometimes the upper parts appear almost uniformly dusky; the bill appears larger, in consequence of the less development of its basal tufts, than in winter. In this dusky summer condition these birds form the Æ. fuscescens and Æ. rostratus of Coues, the latter being the summer plumage of var. holbölli, the former that of var. linarius. In the series of over two hundred examples examined, all midsummer specimens are in the plumage of fuscescens or rostratus, while the latter is not seen in any autumnal, winter, or spring birds.
Specimens of the var. holbölli have been received from Quebec, collected by Mr. W. Couper.
Habits. Accepting as variations due either to locality, latitude, or season the differences already referred to in the plumage of this species, it is not necessary to consider the question of races in connection with our story of their habits. We possess but very little information as to their peculiarities as races in these respects. Treating, then, the Lesser Red-Poll, though appearing in four differing phases, as one species, we claim it to be common to the northern portions of both hemispheres.