FKINUILLID.E — THE FINCHES. 513 



different situations. On St. Michael's Island lie never saw one of this spe- 

 cies far fnun the shore, while the other species was abundant everywhere in 

 the interior of the island. During the summer he never saw more than one 

 or two of llicse liinls at once, nor anywhere except on rocky points or on 

 small rocky islands near the shore. These localities they seemed to share 

 with the liavens and Puthns. In the autumn they are more gregarious, hut 

 still seem to prefer the vicinity of water. Mr. Bannister also observed tins 

 bird at Unalaklik, where it is common 



Wilson was of the opinion that these birds derive a considerable part of 

 their food from the seeds of certain a(puitic plants, and this he supposed one 

 of the principal reasons why they prefer remote northern regions intersected 

 with streams, ponds, lakes, and arms of the sea, abounding with such plants. 

 On Seneca Eiver, near Lake Ontario, in October, he met with a large flock 

 feeding on the surface of the water, supported on the close tops of weeds that 

 rose from the bottom. They were running about with great activity, and 

 the stomachs of those he shot were filled not only with the seeds of that 

 plant, but also with minute shell-fish that adhered to the leaves. 



Eichardson states that this species breeds in the most northern of our 

 Arctic islands, and on all tlie shores of the continent, from Chesterfield's Inlet 

 to Belu'ing Strait. The most southerly of its breeding-places known to him 

 was Southampton Island, in the 62d jDarallel, where Captain Lyons found 

 a nest on the grave of an E.scpiimaux child. Its nest was usually made 

 of dry grass, neatly lined with deer's hair and a few feathers, and is gen- 

 erally fixed in the crevice of a rock, or in a loose pile of timbers or stones. 

 The eggs are described as of a greenish-white, with a circle of irregular 

 umber-brown spots round the larger end, with numerous blotches of subdued 

 lavender-purple. July 22, in removing some drift timber on a beacli at 

 Cape Parry, he discovered a nest on the ground, containing four young Snow- 

 birds. Care was taken not to injure them, and while they were seated at 

 breakfast, at a distance of only two or three feet, the parent birds made fre- 

 quent visits to their offspring, each time bringing grubs in their bills. The 

 Snowbirds are in no apparent haste to leave for the South on the approach 

 of winter, but linger about the forts and open places, picking up seeds, until 

 the snow becomes too deep. It is not until December or January that tliey 

 retire to the south of the Saskatchewan. It returns to that river about the 

 middle of February, by April it has reached the 65th parallel, and by the 

 beginning of May it is found on the shores of the Polar Sea. At this period 

 it feeds on the liuds of the Saj'ifrarja oppcmtifolia, one of the earliest of tlie 

 Arctic plants. The J'oung are fed with insects. 



The Snow^ Ihinting is also an iidialiitant, during the breeding-season, of 

 the Arctic regions of Euroj)e and Asia, and the islands of the Arctic Sea." 

 Scoresby states tiiat it resorts in large flocks to the shores of Spitzbergen, and 

 Captain Sabine includes it among the birds of (treenland and the North 

 Georgian Islands, where it is among the earliest arrivals. Mr. Proctor, who 

 Co 



