AMPELID.E — THK CHATTERERS. 3()<j 



I^nss speaks of them as not rare tliroiigliimt tlie district in which they 

 winter, but yet not niunerous. He adds that at (li'eat Bear Lake they are 

 very plentilul, and that tliey are reported to nest there. Mr. Dall states 

 that they were quite common at Nnhito, where they did not arrive before 

 June 10, or later. He obtained a number of skins from tlie Indians, taken 

 in his absence. He adds that it breeds, and its eggs have been obtained at 

 Fort Yukon. 



Except in a few instances, where Dr. Cooper noticed this species, in 

 September, at Fort Laramie, and also when he obtained an individual on 

 the Colorado, none of these birds have been seen west of the Eoeky IMoun- 

 tains. The bird obtained by Dr. Cooper was, in liis opinion, a straggler from 

 some neighboring mountain. It made its appearance January Id, after a 

 period of stormy weather, and was shot while feeding on the berries of the 

 mistletoe. 



This bird was hvst noticed in America, in the spring nf IHHii, near the 

 sources of the Athabasca l!iver, by Mr. J)rummoiid, and in the same season 

 by Sir John liichardson, at Great Bear Lake, latitude 65°. In the latter 

 region he states that they appeared in flocks about the 24th of May. At 

 that time the spring thaw had exposed the berries of the Arhutus and the 

 Vaccinium, that had been co\ered during the winter. It stayed only a few 

 days, and none of the Indians knew where it bred, or had ever seen its nest. 

 Afterwards, early in May, 1S27, Sir John lUchardsou saw a large flock of three 

 or four hundred indi\iiluals at Carlton House, on the Saskatchewan. Tliey 

 all alighted in a grove of poplars, on one or two trees, making a loud twit- 

 tering noise. They stayed only about an hour in the morning, and were too 

 .shy to be approached within gunshot. 



In England they have been known to appear as earlj^ as August. They 

 are always shy, and not easily apjjroached. In their activity and incessant 

 change of position and place, they are said to resemble the Titmice. They 

 feed on the berries of the mountain-ash, the hawthorn, and the ivy. They will 

 also feed on insects, catching them as dexterously as Flycatchers. Their call- 

 note is a single chirp, frequently repeated. 



Mr. McCuUocli, waiting to Mr. Audubon, gives a touching account of tlie 

 devotion shown by one of these birds to its wounded mate. The latter had 

 been so crippled that it was harilly able to move. Its mate stationed itself 

 on the top of the tree in \\hicii it had sought shelter, and with great vehe- 

 mence continually uttered the notes tzee-tzec, in alarm and warning, and, 

 when danger approached, flew against it and urged it on to flight, and 

 stayed to share its fate, rather than lea\e its partner. 



Tlie nest and eggs of this species remained entirely unknown until the 

 spring of 1856, when the late Mr. John Wolley, an enthusiastic English 

 oologist, first discovered them in Lapland, The season was unusually back- 

 ward and cold, and the nests contained their fuU complement liy the 12th 

 of June. One of the nests, obtained in Unland, June 19, 1861 (S. I., 5,327), 



