FOOD.--When wild, their food is all kinds of seeds that they can shell, and these remain in the crop some time to be moistened before passing into the stomach. In the house, it is only summer rape seed,[45] which need not be soaked in water for them, as for the chaffinch, since, having a much stronger crop and stomach, they can digest much better. It is not necessary always to give them hemp seed with it, and they must not be fed abundantly, for taking little exercise, they easily become fat, and sometimes die from this cause; but a little salt mixed with their food is useful, as it preserves them from many diseases, and they like it. When linnets are allowed to run about, they will feed with the other birds on the common universal paste; but they must be given green vegetables, water, and sand, as they are very fond of bathing and dusting themselves. BREEDING.--Linnets have two broods in the year. They lay from four to six eggs for each, of a bluish white, speckled with reddish brown, especially at the large end. Their nest placed in a hedge, a white or black-thorn, or, if in a country where they are common, on a vine, or a furze bush, is composed of small twigs, dried grass and moss, and lined with wool, the hair of horses, and other animals. The parent birds feed their young ones from their beaks, and do not discontinue it if prisoners in the same cage. If the young ones are to be taught a new song, they must be taken from the nest when the shafts of the feathers are just appearing, that they may have no idea of their parents' song. The males may be easily distinguished by their white collar, and from having the most white about the wings and tail. DISEASES.--The most common disorders of this species are constipation, atrophy, and epilepsy. A linnet, however, will, in general, live from ten to twelve years in the house. MODE OF TAKING.--These birds are distrustful and suspicious, and, notwithstanding decoys and perching birds, it is very difficult to entice them within the decoy or area, and never many together. In the spring, by means of a good decoy-bird, a few may be taken on a decoy-bush. In the autumn, by fastening snares or lime twigs to the stalks of lettuces, of the seeds of which the linnets are very fond, several may be taken. Our shepherds turn and support the cribs, used to feed the sheep from, in such a manner, that the linnets, coming to gather the grains of salt, easily overturn them on themselves. The call of the linnet is "_gäcker_."