The Lesser Redpoll

March 5.

F. Brown showed me to-day some lesser redpolls which he shot yesterday. They turn out to be my falsely-called chestnut-frontleted bird of the winter. They have a sharp bill, black legs and claws, and a bright-crimson crown or frontlet, in the male reaching to the base of the bill, with, in his case, a delicate rose or carmine on the breast and rump. Though this is described by Nuttall as an occasional visitor in the winter, it has been the prevailing bird here this winter.

 Yesterday I got my grape cuttings. The day before went to the Corner Spring to look at the tufts of green grass. Got some of the very common leptogium (??). Is it one of the Collemaceæ? 

Was pleased with the sight of the yellow osiers of the golden willow, and the red of the cornel, now colors are so rare. 

Saw the green fine-threaded conferva in a ditch, commonly called frog-spittle. Brought it home in my pocket, and it expanded again in a tumbler. It appeared quite a fresh growth, with what looked like filmy air-bubbles, as big as large shot, in its midst.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, March 5, 1853

The lesser redpoll has been the prevailing bird here this winter. See . March 6, 1860 ("The linarias have been the most numerous birds the past winter"); December 11, 1855  (“There is no question about the existence of these delicate creatures, their adaptedness to their circumstances.”)  See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Lesser Redpoll

Saw the green fine-threaded conferva in a ditch. See January 29, 1858 ("In the ditches on Holbrook's meadow near Copan, I see a Rana palustris swimming, and much conferva greening all the water. Even this green is exhilarating, like a spring in winter. I am affected by the sight even of a mass of conferva in a ditch")