ClipArt ETC
"Bill small, short, straight, very acute, more or less compressed, the lateral outlines usually a little concave, those of culmen and gonys straight; commissure straight to the slight angulation. Base of bill thickly beset with a ruff of antrorse plumules, concealing the small nasal fossae and round nostrils. Wings longer than tail, pointed by first 3 primaries. Tail rather long for this group, forked. Feet small and weak, but tarsi longer than middle toes without claw; lateral toes of equal lengths, their claw-tips falling beyond base of middle claw. Hind claw much longer, stouter and more curved than the middle, exceeding its digit in length. Size small; plumage streaky with dusky, white, and flaxen colors, crown crimson, face and throat blackish; sexes otherwise dissimilar; with rosy or carmine on breast, wanting in. Scarcely different from Linota (flavirostris, etc.) the pattern of coloration being the most available distinction." Elliot Coues, 1884

Red-poll Linnets

"Bill small, short, straight, very acute, more or less compressed, the lateral outlines usually a little…

"Aegiothus linaria. Common Redpoll. Common Red-poll. Frontlet, lores, and throat-spot sooty-black. Crown crimson. Above, variegated with brownish-yellow and dusky, the feathers having dark centres and flaxen edges. Rump streaked with dusky and white, and tinged with rosy, more or less so according to age and season. Below, white, the sides and crissum streaked with dusky, the entire fore-parts colored with rose-red more or less rich and extensive according to same circumstances. Wings and tail dusky, the feathers edged with whitish, the middle and greater coverts tipped with the same, forming two crossbars. Bill black or yellow, usually found yellow with dusky tip and edges. Feet blackish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Common Redpoll

"Aegiothus linaria. Common Redpoll. Common Red-poll. Frontlet, lores, and throat-spot sooty-black. Crown…