The Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina) is a small perching bird. In the early 20th Century, Male Linnets were often kept in cages due to their varied and tuneful song. They even feature in 'Don't Dilly Dally on the Way', a Music Hall song from 1919 about a poor family moving house. The song is subtitled 'The Cock Linnet Song' because of the lyric 'I walked behind with my old cock linnet'.

Female linnets are grey-brown with a speckled breast. Male linnets generally have a grey head, brown back and pink-red breast. They moult in autumn, and their new feathers are duller in colour. The dull tips of the feathers wear away over winter to reveal the brighter colours in spring. These birds can be found in parts of Europe, Asia and north Africa. Although the population is decreasing (due to factors such as loss of hedgerows as a result of changing farming practices), there are still large numbers of Common Linnets in the wild (more than 50 million), so they have been classed as Least Concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.

Common Linnets are mainly seed-eaters, but they will also eat the buds of small flowers and sometimes eat insects. They can be found in various kinds of habitats. During the non-breeding season, they may spend time at the coast or on saltmarshes. They may also be found on rocky terrain, or on grassland. They build nests on gorse heaths, in shrubs or in hedgerows. Some members of the species stay close to where they hatched, such as in the UK, while others migrate. For example, birds from Scandinavia might fly south to the UK, while birds in the UK might fly south to France or Spain.

In the breeding season, the female lays up to 6 eggs and incubates them for about two weeks. Both parents feed the chicks for about a month, although the chicks learn to fly about two weeks after hatching. The oldest Common Linnet known to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was nine years old.

The Linnet Family

Common Linnets were once considered part of the Carduelis genus along with European Goldfinches and other finches. However, DNA analysis enabled them to be separated out into a new genus. Linaria is Latin for linen, a fabric made from flax, reflecting the Linnets' fondness for flax seeds.

There are three other members of the Linaria genus. As its name suggests, the Yemen Linnet (Linaria yemenensis) is found in Yemen (plus parts of Saudi Arabia). The International Union for Conservation of Nature have not been able to assess the population in detail, but they have classed it as Least Concern, as they estimate there are more than 10,000 of these birds in the wild. The Warsangli Linnet (Linaria johannis) is found only in the juniper forests of Somalia. There are estimated to be fewer than 1,000 of these birds left in the wild, so the species is classified as Near Threatened. The Twite (Linaria flavirostris) has experienced a decreasing population in recent years due to changing farming practices and drier summers affecting their mountain and meadow habitats. However, the species range stretches across parts of Europe and Asia, from Ireland in the west to Mongolia in the east and from Norway in the north to Nepal in the south, so it is classed as Least Concern. Efforts to monitor these species and protect their habitats are ongoing.