The common linnet (''Linaria cannabina'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

of the

finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, ''Linaria'', from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the

English name English names are names used in, or originating in, England. In England as elsewhere in the English-speaking world, a complete name usually consists of a given name, commonly referred to as a first name, and a (most commonly patrilineal) family ...

of the plant from which linen is made.

Taxonomy

In 1758, the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

included the common linnet in the

10th edition 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

of his '' Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name, ''Acanthis cannabina''. The species was formerly placed in the genus ''

Carduelis The genus ''Carduelis'' is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae. The genus ''Carduelis'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 by tautonomy based on Carl Linnaeus's specific epithet for the Europe ...

'' but based on the results of a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences published in 2012, it was moved to the genus ''

Linaria ''Linaria'' is a genus of almost 200 species of flowering plants, one of several related groups commonly called toadflax. They are annuals and herbaceous perennials, and the largest genus in the Antirrhineae tribe of the plantain family Plan ...

'' that had been introduced by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802. The genus name ''linaria'' is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for a linen-weaver, from ''linum'', "flax". The species name ''cannabina'' comes from the Latin for hemp. The English name has a similar root, being derived from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

''linette'', from ''lin'', "flax". There are seven recognised subspecies: * ''L. c. autochthona'' ( Clancey, 1946) – Scotland * ''L. c. cannabina'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 1758) – western, central and northern Europe, western and central Siberia. Non-breeding in north Africa and southwest Asia * ''L. c. bella'' ( Brehm, CL, 1845) – Middle East to Mongolia and northwestern China * ''L. c. mediterranea'' ( Tschusi, 1903) – Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Greece, northwest Africa and Mediterranean islands * ''L. c. guentheri'' ( Wolters, 1953) – Madeira * ''L. c. meadewaldoi'' ( Hartert, 1901) – western and central Canary Island (El Hierro and Gran Canaria) * ''L. c. harterti'' ( Bannerman, 1913) – eastern Canary Islands (Alegranza, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura) Common linnet (Linaria cannabina mediterranea) male.jpg, ''L. c. mediterranea'', male Common linnet (Linaria cannabina mediterranea) female.jpg, ''L. c. mediterranea'', female Common linnet (Linaria cannabina mediterranea) juvenile.jpg, ''L. c. mediterranea'', juvenile

Description

The common 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.

Distribution

The common linnet breeds in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, the western Palearctic and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. It is partially resident, but many eastern and northern birds migrate farther south in the breeding range or move to the coasts. They are sometimes found several hundred miles off-shore. It has been introduced to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

Behaviour

Carduelis cannabina cannabina MHNT 223 St Moré

Open land with thick bushes is favoured for breeding, including heathland and garden. It builds its nest in a bush, laying four to seven eggs. This species can form large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with other finches, such as

twite The twite (''Linaria flavirostris'') is a small brown passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is similar in size and shape to a linnet, at long. It lacks the red head patch and breast shown by the linnet and the redpolls. It is bro ...

, on coasts and salt marshes. The common 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 Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...

(including charlock,

shepherd's purse ''Capsella bursa-pastoris'', known as shepherd's purse because of its triangular flat fruits, which are purse-like, is a small annual and ruderal flowering plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to eastern Europe and Asia minor, ...

), chickweeds,

dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

, sow-thistle,

mayweed Mayweed is a common name for two different species of flowering plants and also a name commonly used for several genera of the tribe Anthemideae whose species are currently in a flux of renaming: Species with the common name of mayweed: :''Anthemis ...

common groundsel ''Senecio vulgaris'', often known by the common names groundsel and old-man-in-the-spring, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is an annual herb, native to Europe and widely naturalised as a ruderal species in suitable disturbed ha ...

common hawthorn ''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and West Asia, but has been introduced in ...

and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

. They have a small component of

Invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s in their diet.

Conservation

The 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 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species (especia ...

. 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 to 2009, according to the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme, the European population decreased by 62% Favourable management practices on agricultural land include: * Set-aside * Overwinter stubbles * Uncultivated margins, ditches, field corners * Conservation headlands * Wild bird cover, using plants that produce small, oil-rich seeds, such as kale,

quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, a ...

, mustard plant and oil-seed rape '' Brassica napus'' * Restoration of

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

s: restoration and creation of hay-meadows * Short, thick, thorny hedgerows and scrub for nesting habitat

Cultural references

The bird was a popular pet in the late Victorian and

Edwardian era The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victor ...

s. Alfred, Lord Tennyson mentions "the linnet born within the cage" in Canto 27 of his 1849 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 linnet features in the classic British music hall song "

Don't Dilly Dally on the Way "Don't Dilly Dally on the Way", subtitled "The Cock Linnet Song" and often credited as "My Old Man (Said Follow the Van)", is a music hall song written in 1919 by Fred W. Leigh and Charles Collins, made popular by Marie Lloyd. The song, althou ...

" (1919) which is subtitled "The Cock Linnet Song". It is a character in Oscar Wilde's children's story "The Devoted Friend" (1888) and 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 William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

evokes the image of the common linnet in " The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (1890) : "And evening full of the linnet's wings." and also mentions the bird in his poem " A Prayer for My Daughter" (1919): "May she become a flourishing hidden tree That all her thoughts may like the linnet be, And have no business but dispensing round Their magnanimities of sound." In the 1840 novel ''

The Old Curiosity Shop ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is one of two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York r ...

'' by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, the heroine Nell keeps "only a poor linnet" in a cage, which she leaves for Kit as a sign of her gratefulness to him. The English Baroque composer

John Blow John Blow (baptised 23 February 1649 – 1 October 1708) was an English composer and organist of the Baroque period. Appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in late 1668,Henry Purcell, "An Ode on the Death of Mr. Purcell" set to the poem "Mark how the lark and linnet sing" by the poet

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

. "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'.

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

's 1788 poem "A Mother's Lament for the Death of Her Son" also tells of a linnet bird bewailing her ravished young.

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

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

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...

's poem "The Linnet", published in 1918 in the collection ''Motley and Other Poems'', has been set to music by a number of composers including Cecil

Armstrong Gibbs Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (10 August 1889 – 12 May 1960) was a prolific and versatile English composer. Though best known for his choral music and, in particular, songs, Gibbs also devoted much of his career to the amateur choral and festival mov ...

Kenneth Leighton Kenneth Leighton (2 October 1929 – 24 August 1988) was a British composer and pianist. His compositions include church and choral music, pieces for piano, organ, cello, oboe and other instruments, chamber music, concertos, ...

and

Jack Gibbons Jack Gibbons (born 2 March 1962) is an English classical composer and virtuoso pianist. Biography Gibbons was born in England. His father was a scientist and his mother a visual artist. He began his piano studies in Stockton-on-Tees, later ...

. The

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

entry for the Netherlands "

The Common Linnets The Common Linnets are a Dutch band that was formed in 2013. The band originally consisted of friends Ilse DeLange and Waylon. DeLange has stated that the group is a platform for Dutch artists to make country, Americana, and bluegrass music, an ...

" is a direct reference to the bird.

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

argued that the song of the common 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 Robert Seymour Bridges (23 October 1844 – 21 April 1930) was an English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is ...

used the common linnet instead to express the limitations of poetry—concentrating on 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 Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Stre ...

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?

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

's poem "Morns like these—we parted—" the last line is: "And this linnet flew!"

Gallery

Image:Carduelis cannabina-young in nest.jpg, Young in nest Image:Konopleanka 2009 moldavia.jpg File:Linnet from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg, ID composite

References

External links

Common Linnet · ''Linaria cannabina'' · (Linnaeus, 1758)
��Audio recordings from Xeno-canto
Linnet (''Carduelis cannabina'')
at Wildscreen's Arkive (videos, stills)
BBC Wildlifefinder
��Videos, sound files and information programmes featuring linnets
Ageing and sexing
(PDF; 4.8 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze {{Taxonbar, from=Q27075852

common linnet The common linnet (''Linaria cannabina'') is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, ''Linaria'', from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the English ...

Birds of Central Asia Birds of Europe Birds of the Dominican Republic

Migratory birds (Eastern Hemisphere)