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Common Linnet For the North American bird, see House Finch

Common Linnet

Male in breeding plumage in England

Female in Scotland

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Fringillidae

Genus: Carduelis

Species: C. cannabina

Binomial name

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Binomial_nomenclaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carduelishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fringillidaehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Passeriformeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Birdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chordatehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Animalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biological_classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IUCN_Red_Listhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Least_Concernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AStatus_iucn3.1_LC.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservation_statushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AFemale-linnet.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ACarduelis_cannabina_-England_-male-8.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=House_Finch

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Common Linnet 2

Carduelis cannabina

(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Common Linnet (Carduelis cannabina ) is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its

scientific name from its fondness for hemp and its English name from its liking for seeds of flax, from which linen is

made.

DescriptionThe linnet is a slim bird with a long tail. The upper parts are brown, the throat is sullied white and the bill is grey.

The summer male has a grey nape, red head-patch and red breast. Females and young birds lack the red and have

white underparts, the breast streaked buff.

DistributionThe linnet breeds in Europe, western Asia and north Africa. It is partially resident, but many eastern and northern

birds migrate further south in the breeding range or move to the coasts. They are sometimes found several hundred

miles off-shore. [1]

Behaviour

Eggs of Carduelis cannabina cannabina MHNT

Open land with thick bushes is favoured for breeding, including

heathland and garden. It builds its nest in a bush, laying 4-7 eggs.

This species can form large flocks outside the breeding season,

sometimes mixed with other finches, such as Twite, on coasts and salt

marshes.

The linnet's pleasant song contains fast trills and twitters.It feeds on the ground, and low down in bushes, its food mainly

consisting of seeds, which it also feeds to its chicks. It likes small to

medium sized seeds from most arable weeds, knotgrass, dock),

crucifers (including charlock, shepherd's purse), chickweeds,

dandelions, thistle, sow-thistle, mayweed, common groundsel,

common hawthorn and birch. They have a small component of

Invertebrates in their diet.

ConservationThe Common Linnet is listed by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan as a priority species. It is protected in the UK by

the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

In Britain, populations are declining, attributed to increasing use of herbicides, aggressive scrub removal and

excessive hedge trimming; its population fell by 56% between 1968 and 1991, probably due to a decrease in seed

supply and the increasing use of herbicide. From 1980-2009, according to the Pan-European Common Bird

Monitoring Scheme, the European population decreased by 62% [2]

Favourable management practices on agricultural land include:

Set-aside

Overwinter stubbles

Uncultivated margins, ditches, field corners

Conservation headlands

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservation_headlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Set-asidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wildlife_and_Countryside_Act_1981http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biodiversity_Action_Planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Invertebratehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Birchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_hawthornhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_groundselhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mayweedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sow-thistlehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thistlehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dandelionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Capsella_bursa-pastorishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charlockhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crucifershttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Knotgrasshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ACarduelis_cannabina_cannabina_MHNT_223_St_Mor%C3%A9.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MHNThttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bird_migrationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Africahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Asiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Europehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flaxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hemphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Finchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Birdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Passerinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carolus_Linnaeus

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Common Linnet 3

Wild bird cover, using plants that produce small, oil-rich seeds, such as kale, quinoa, mustard plant and oil-seed

rape Brassica napus

Restoration of meadows: restoration and creation of hay-meadows

Short, thick, thorny hedgerows and scrub for nesting habitat

Cultural referencesThe bird was a popular pet in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Tennyson mentions "the linnet born within the

cage" in part 27 of the poem In Memoriam A.H.H , the same section that contains the famous lines "'Tis better to have

loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all." A "cock linnet" features in the classic British music hall song of

that period My Old Man, and as a character in Oscar Wilde's children's story The Devoted Friend. Wilde also

mentions how the call of the linnet awakens The Selfish Giant to the one tree where it is springtime in his garden.

William Butler Yeats evokes the image of the linnet in The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1890) in line 8: "And evening full

of the linnet's wings."

"The Linnets" has become the nickname of King's Lynn Football Club, Burscough Football Club and Runcorn

Linnets Football Club (formerly known as 'Runcorn F.C.' and Runcorn F.C. Halton). Barry Town F.C., the South

Wales-based football team, also used to be nicknamed 'The Linnets'.

William Blake invokes "the linnet's song" in one of the poems entitled "Song" in his "Poetical Sketches."

William Wordsworth argued that the song of the Linnet provides more wisdom than books in the third verse of The

Tables Turned:

"Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:

Come, hear the woodland linnet,

How sweet his music! on my life,

There's more of wisdom in it."

But the fellow English poet Robert Bridges used the linnet instead to express the limitations of poetry - concentratingon the difficulty in poetry of conveying the beauty of a bird's song. He wrote in the first verse:

"I heard a linnet courting

His lady in the spring:

His mates were idly sporting,

Nor stayed to hear him sing

His song of love.--

I fear my speech distorting

His tender love."

The musical Sweeney Todd features the song "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," in which a young lady confined to her

room wonders why caged birds sing:

"Green finch and linnet bird,

Nightingale, blackbird,

How is it you sing?

How can you jubilate,

Sitting in cages,

Never taking wing?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sweeney_Todd:_The_Demon_Barber_of_Fleet_Street_%28musical%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Bridgeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Wordsworthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barry_Town_F.C.http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Runcorn_Linnets_F.C.http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Runcorn_Linnets_F.C.http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burscough_F.C.http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=King%27s_Lynn_F.C.http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Lake_Isle_of_Innisfreehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Butler_Yeatshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Happy_Prince_and_Other_Tales%23%22The_Selfish_Giant%22http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wildehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Happy_Prince%23%22The_Devoted_Friend%22http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oscar_Wildehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=My_Old_Man_%28Said_Follow_the_Van%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Music_hallhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tennysonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edwardian_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Victorian_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meadowhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brassica_napushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mustard_planthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quinoahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kale

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Gallery

Young in nest

References[1] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ dirs/ 1/ 1/ 3/ 3/ 11330/ 11330-h/ 11330-h. htm

[2] http:/ / www. birdlife. org/ community/ 2011/ 08/ farmland-birds-in-europe-fall-to-lowest-levels/

External links Avibase (http:/ / www. bsc-eoc.org/ avibase/ species. jsp?lang=EN& id=3D124E32B595A8EC&

ts=1221559455166& sec=summary)

ARChive (http:/ / www. arkive. org/ species/ ARK/ birds/ Carduelis_cannabina/ ) Videos, stills

BBC Wildlifefinder (http:/ / www. bbc.co. uk/ nature/ species/ Linnet) BBC videos, sound files and information

programmes featuring Linnets

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 4.8 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze (http:/ / www. ibercajalav.

net/ img/ 433_LinnetC. cannabina. pdf)

RSPB A management guide to birds of lowland farmland

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RSPBhttp://www.ibercajalav.net/img/433_LinnetC.cannabina.pdfhttp://www.ibercajalav.net/img/433_LinnetC.cannabina.pdfhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Linnethttp://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/birds/Carduelis_cannabina/http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/species.jsp?lang=EN&id=3D124E32B595A8EC&ts=1221559455166&sec=summaryhttp://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/species.jsp?lang=EN&id=3D124E32B595A8EC&ts=1221559455166&sec=summaryhttp://www.birdlife.org/community/2011/08/farmland-birds-in-europe-fall-to-lowest-levels/http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/1/3/3/11330/11330-h/11330-h.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AKonopleanka_2009_moldavia.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ACarduelis_cannabina-young_in_nest.jpg

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Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and ContributorsCommon Linnet Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=565348901 Contributors : Abigail-II, Andres, Archaeodontosaurus, Basil and Nigel, Blokenearexeter, Bob Burkhardt,Breakinguptheguy, Brian1979, Capricorn42, Common Man, Dancingteen, Denniss, Deomurari, Dysmorodrepanis, Etxrge, Exok, Gymnophoria, HenkvD, Hesperian, Hu12, HumanArchAngelG,Innotata, Isfisk, Ivy Shoots, JavierAlonso, Jimfbleak, Kaarel, Kikuitadaki, Kmoksy, Kwiki, Landed little marsdon, Larissa54, Lokyz, Lysy, Marc Venot, Marnanel, Moremadness2001,Mountolive, Mwng, N419BH, Naddy, Neutrality, Niceguyedc, Nicke Lilltroll, Nigel45, Notafly, Panellet, Pankratov-p, Pro bug catcher, Pwqn, R'n'B, Redheylin, Robertvinci, Rosarinagazo,Rufous-crowned Sparrow, SDC, Samw, Sdobnikov A., Smallweed, Snafflekid, Snowmanradio, Spondoolicks, Stemonitis, Template namespace initialisation script, Tigershrike, Waltpohl,WikiLambo, Xezbeth, Yerpo, Zureks, 36 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributorsfile:Carduelis cannabina -England -male-8.jpg Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carduelis_cannabina_-England_-male-8.jpg License : Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors : Joe Pell

file:Female-linnet.jpg Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Female-linnet.jpg License : Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors : User:Zambog

file:Status iucn3.1 LC.svg Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg License : unknown Contributors : Clindberg, Foomin10, Ismukhammed, Kelson,Palosirkka, Pengo, ZxxZxxZ, 8 anonymous edits

File:Carduelis cannabina cannabina MHNT 223 St Mor.jpg Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carduelis_cannabina_cannabina_MHNT_223_St_Mor.jpg License :Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors : Didier Descouens

Image:Carduelis cannabina-young in nest.jpg Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carduelis_cannabina-young_in_nest.jpg License : Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Contributors : Yerpo

Image:Konopleanka 2009 moldavia.jpg Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Konopleanka_2009_moldavia.jpg License : Public Domain Contributors : Pankratov-p

LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

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