(_Acanthis linaria_) Finch family
_Called also_: REDPOLL LINNET; LITTLE SNOWBIRD; LESSER REDPOLL
(Illustration facing p. 25)
_Length_--5.25 to 5.5 inches. About an inch shorter than the
English sparrow.
_Male_--A rich crimson wash on head, neck, breast, and lower
back, that is sometimes only a pink when we see the bird in
midwinter. Grayish-brown, sparrowy feathers show underneath
the red wash. Dusky wings and tail, the feathers more or less
edged with whitish. Soiled white underneath; the sides with
dusky streaks. Bill sharply pointed.
_Female_--More dingy than male, sides more heavily streaked,
and having crimson only on the crown.
_Range_--An arctic bird that descends irregularly into the
northern United States.
_Migrations_--An irregular winter visitor.
"Ere long, amid the cold and powdery snow, as it were a fruit of the
season, will come twittering a flock of delicate crimson-tinged birds,
lesser redpolls, to sport and feed on the buds just ripe for them on
the sunny side of a wood, shaking down the powdery snow there in their
cheerful feeding, as if it were high midsummer to them." Thoreau's
beautiful description of these tiny winter visitors, which should be
read entire, shows the man in one of his most sympathetic, exalted
moods, and it is the best brief characterization of the redpoll that
we have.
When the arctic cold becomes too cruel for even the snowbirds and
crossbills to withstand, flocks of the sociable little redpolls flying
southward are the merest specks in the sullen, gray sky, when they can
be seen at all. So high do they keep that often they must pass above
our heads without our knowing it. First we see a quantity of tiny
dots, like a shake of pepper, in the cloud above, then the specks grow
larger and larger, and finally the birds seem to drop from the sky
upon some tall tree that they completely cover--a veritable cloudburst
of birds. Without pausing to rest after the long journey, down they
flutter into the weedy pastures with much cheerful twittering, to feed
upon whatever seeds may be protruding through the snow. Every action
of a flock seems to be concerted, as if some rigid disciplinarian had
drilled them, and yet no leader can be distinguished in the merry
company. When one flies, all fly; where one feeds, all feed, and by
some subtle telepathy all rise at the identical instant from their
feeding ground and cheerfully twitter in concert where they all alight
at once. They are more easily disturbed than the goldfinches, that are
often seen feeding with them in the lowlands; nevertheless, they quite
often venture into our gardens and orchards, even in suburbs
penetrated by the trolley-car.
Usually in winter we hear only their lisping call-note; but if the
birds linger late enough in the spring, when their "fancy lightly
turns to thoughts of love," a gleeful, canary-like song comes from the
naked branches, and we may know by it that the flock will soon
disappear for their nesting grounds in the northern forests.
* * * * *
The Greater Redpoll (_Acanthis linaria rostrata_) may be distinguished
from the foregoing species by its slightly larger size, darker upper
parts, and shorter, stouter bill. But the notes, habits, and general
appearance of both redpolls are so nearly identical that the birds are
usually mistaken for each other.