Editing Common linnet

{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{for|the North American bird|House finch}}
{{Redirect|Linnet|other uses|Linnet (disambiguation)}}
{{speciesbox
| name = Common linnet
| image = Carduelis cannabina -England -male-8.jpg
| image_caption = Male in breeding plumage
| image2 = 2017.07.06.-42-Wendisch Rietz--Bluthaenfling-Weibchen.jpg  
| image2_caption = Female 
[[File:Carduelis cannabina singing.flac|thumb|Song]]
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Linaria cannabina'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22720441A132139778 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22720441A132139778.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Linaria (bird)
| species = cannabina
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| synonyms = *''Fringilla cannabina'' {{small|Linnaeus,&nbsp;1758}}
*''Carduelis cannabina'' {{small|(Linnaeus,&nbsp;1758)}}
| range_map = LinariaCannabinaIUCN2019 2.png
| range_map_caption = Range of ''L. cannabina''{{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#008000|Resident|outline=gray}}  {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}}
}}

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 language|English name]] of the plant from which [[linen]] is made.

==Taxonomy==
In 1758, the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] included the common linnet in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|10th edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial name]], ''Acanthis cannabina''.<ref name=checklist>{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jnr. | year=1968 | title=Check-list of birds of the world, Volume 14 | volume=14 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | pages=255–256 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481456 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first= C. | author-link= Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title= Systema Naturæ per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Volume 1| volume= 1 | edition=10th | page=182 | publisher=Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii  | language = la | url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727089 }}</ref> The species was formerly placed in the genus ''[[Carduelis]]'' but based on the results of a [[phylogenetic]] analysis of [[mitochondrial]] and nuclear DNA sequences published in 2012, it was moved to the genus ''[[Linaria (bird)|Linaria]]'' that had been introduced by the German naturalist [[Johann Matthäus Bechstein]] in 1802.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | title=Finches, euphonias | work= World Bird List Version 5.2| url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union| access-date=5 June 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Zuccon | first1=Dario  | last2=Prŷs-Jones | first2=Robert | last3=Rasmussen | first3=Pamela C. | last4=Ericson | first4=Per G.P. | year=2012 | title=The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=62 | issue=2 | pages=581–596 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002 | url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.9ff3752132fdaeccb6800010935/Zuccon%20et%20al%202012.pdf | pmid=22023825}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Bechstein  | first=Johann Matthäus | author-link=Johann Matthäus Bechstein | year=1803 | title=Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte | page=121 | place=Leipzig | publisher=Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter | language=de | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41098731 }}</ref>

The genus name ''linaria'' is the [[Latin]] for a linen-weaver, from ''linum'', "flax". The species name ''cannabina'' comes from the Latin for [[hemp]].<ref>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling |publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=89, 227 }}</ref> The English name has a similar root, being derived from [[Old French]] ''linette'', from ''lin'', "flax".<ref name=OED>{{ OED |Linnet}}</ref>

There are seven recognised [[subspecies]]:<ref name=ioc/>

* ''L. c. autochthona'' ([[Phillip Clancey|Clancey]], 1946) &ndash; Scotland
* ''L. c. cannabina'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]) &ndash; western, central and northern Europe, western and central Siberia. Non-breeding in north Africa and southwest Asia	
* ''L. c. bella'' ([[Christian Ludwig Brehm|Brehm, CL]], 1845) &ndash; Middle East to Mongolia and northwestern China
* ''L. c. mediterranea'' ([[Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen|Tschusi]], 1903) &ndash; Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Greece, northwest Africa and Mediterranean islands
* ''L. c. guentheri'' ([[Hans Edmund Wolters|Wolters]], 1953) &ndash; Madeira
* ''L. c. meadewaldoi'' ([[Ernst Hartert|Hartert]], 1901) &ndash; western and central Canary Island (El Hierro and Gran Canaria)
* ''L. c. harterti'' ([[David Armitage Bannerman|Bannerman]], 1913) &ndash; eastern Canary Islands (Alegranza, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura)

<gallery mode = packed heights = 130px>
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
</gallery>

== 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]], the western [[Palearctic]] and [[North Africa]]. It is partially resident, but many eastern and northern birds [[Bird migration|migrate]] farther south in the breeding range or move to the coasts. They are sometimes found several hundred miles off-shore.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Mirror of Literature, Issue 274.|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11330/11330-h/11330-h.htm|access-date=2021-10-06|website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> It has been introduced to the [[Dominican Republic]].

==Behaviour==
[[File:Carduelis cannabina cannabina MHNT 223 St Moré.jpg|thumb|Eggs]]
[[File:Linaria cannabina mediterranea MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.223.20.jpg|thumb|''Linaria cannabina mediterranea'' - [[MHNT]]]]
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]], 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, [[Polygonum|knotgrass]], dock, [[crucifers]] (including [[charlock]], [[capsella bursa-pastoris|shepherd's purse]]), chickweeds, [[dandelion]]s, [[thistle]], [[sow-thistle]], [[mayweed]], [[Senecio vulgaris|common groundsel]], [[common hawthorn]] and [[birch]]. They have a small component of [[Invertebrate]]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]].

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%<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.birdlife.org/community/2011/08/farmland-birds-in-europe-fall-to-lowest-levels/|title = French President Macron wants to allow trapping of 110,000+ wild birds|date = 16 September 2021}}</ref>

Favourable management practices on agricultural land include:

* [[Set-aside]]
* Overwinter stubbles
* Uncultivated margins, ditches, field corners
* [[Conservation headland]]s
* 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 [[meadow]]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 era|Victorian]] and [[Edwardian era]]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]]" (1919) which is subtitled "The Cock Linnet Song". It is a character in [[Oscar Wilde]]'s children's story [[The Happy Prince and Other Tales#"The Devoted Friend"|"The Devoted Friend"]] (1888) and Wilde also mentions how the call of the linnet awakens [[The Happy Prince and Other Tales#"The Selfish Giant"|"The Selfish Giant"]] to the one tree where it is springtime in his garden. [[William Butler Yeats]] 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]]'' by [[Charles Dickens]], 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]] composed an ode on the occasion of the death of his colleague [[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]].

"The Linnets" has become the nickname of [[King's Lynn F.C.|King's Lynn Football Club]], [[Burscough F.C.|Burscough Football Club]] and [[Runcorn Linnets F.C.|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]]'s 1788 poem "A Mother's Lament for the Death of Her Son" also tells of a linnet bird bewailing her ravished young.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.robertburns.org/works/232.shtml|title=Robert Burns Country: A Mother's Lament for the Death of Her Son.}}</ref>

[[William Blake]] invokes "the linnet's song" in one of the poems entitled "Song" in his ''Poetical Sketches''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bartleby.com/337/856.html|title = William Blake (1757-1827). Extracts from Poetical Sketches: Song: 'Memory, hither come'. T. H. Ward, ed. 1880-1918. The English Poets}}</ref>

[[Walter de la Mare]]'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]], [[Kenneth Leighton]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=34146 |title=The LiederNet Archive |date=2008-01-11 |access-date=2016-03-26}}</ref> and [[Jack Gibbons]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIX3x-TA9mY |title=Gibbons: 'The Linnet', Op.25 |publisher=YouTube |date=2010-12-06 |access-date=2016-03-26}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref>

The [[Eurovision Song Contest 2014]] entry for the Netherlands "[[The Common Linnets]]" is a direct reference to the bird.

[[William Wordsworth]] argued that the song of the common linnet provides more wisdom than books in the third verse of "The Tables Turned":
<blockquote><poem>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.</poem></blockquote>

But the fellow English poet [[Robert Bridges]] 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:
<blockquote><poem>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.</poem></blockquote>

The musical [[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (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:
<blockquote><poem>Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
How can you jubilate,
Sitting in cages,
Never taking wing?</poem></blockquote>

In [[Emily Dickinson]]'s poem "Morns like these—we parted—" the last line is: "And this linnet flew!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3224/morns-like-thesewe-parted/|title=Morns like these—we parted by Emily Dickinson}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px"> 
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
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Winspear |first1=Richard |last2=Davies |first2=Gethin |year=2005 |title=A Management Guide to Birds of Lowland Farmland |series=RSPB Management Guides |location=Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK |publisher=[[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] |isbn=9781901930573 |oclc=954855935}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Carduelis cannabina}}
{{Collier's Poster}}
* [http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Linaria-cannabina Common Linnet · ''Linaria cannabina'' · (Linnaeus, 1758)]—Audio recordings from Xeno-canto
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071213053647/http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/birds/Carduelis_cannabina/ Linnet (''Carduelis cannabina'')] at Wildscreen's Arkive (videos, stills)
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Linnet BBC Wildlifefinder]—Videos, sound files and information programmes featuring linnets
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141202063659/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/433_LinnetC.cannabina.pdf Ageing and sexing] (PDF; 4.8 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze

{{Taxonbar|from=Q27075852}}

[[Category:Birds described in 1758|common linnet]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus|common linnet]]
[[Category:Birds of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of Europe]]
[[Category:Birds of the Dominican Republic]]
[[Category:Linaria (bird)|common linnet]]
[[Category:Migratory birds (Eastern Hemisphere)]]