658 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



So prompt, indeed, at times are their movements, that 

 in the present season (November, 1831), in travelling 

 nearly to the extremity of New Hampshire, not a single 

 bird of the species was now to be seen, as they had, no 

 doubt, migrated southward with the first threatening and 

 untimely snow which had fallen, being indeed, so unus- 

 ually abundant, previously to that period, as to sell 

 in the market of Boston as low as 12^ cents apiece. 

 Although elevated countries and rocky situations thickly 

 overgrown with bushes and dense evergreens, by rivers 

 and brooks, are their chosen situations, yet at times they 

 frequent the low lands and more open pine forests in the 

 vicinity of our northern towns and cities, and are even 

 occasionally content to seek a retreat, far from their fa- 

 vorite hills, in the depth of a Kentucky cane-brake. They 

 are somewhat abundant in the shrubby oak barrens of 

 Kentucky and Tennessee in which their food abounds. 

 This consists commonly in the spring and fall, of the buds 

 of trees, the catkins of the hazel and alder, even fern 

 buds, acorns, and seeds of various kinds, among which I 

 have met with the capsules, including the seeds, of the 

 common small Canadian Cistus {Helianthemum). At 

 times, I have seen the crop almost entirely filled with the 

 buds of the Apple tree, each connected with a portion of 

 the twig, the wood of which appears to remain a good 

 while undigested ; cinquefoil and strawberry leaves, buds 

 of the Azaleas and of the broad-leaved Kalmia, with the 

 favorite Partridge berries {Gaultheria procumhens), ivy 

 berries {Cissus hedcracea), and gravel pebbles, are also 

 some of the many articles which form the winter fare of 

 our bird. In summer, they seem often to prefer berries 

 of various kinds, particularly dew-berries, strawberries, 

 grapes, and whortleberries, 



