LAND BIRDS. 479 



in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula, some years none appearing, 

 while at other times it is fairly abundant. 



Often it comes in small or moderate sized flocks by itself, feeding 

 principally on the seeds of the white cedar or arbor-vitse, the larch or 

 tamarack and the various pines and spruces, but also when the ground is 

 bare, eating the fallen seeds of maple, elm and other trees and devouring 

 w^eed and grass seeds with reUsh. It associates freely with the winter 

 Goldfinches and Redpolls, and not infrequently is seen with the crossbills, 

 and eating the same food. It has been reported frequently in spring 

 as eating dandelion seeds, and the late Percy Selous observed it at Green- 

 ville, Montcalm county, as late as May 25, 1897, feeding on these seeds. 

 Peet found it feeding among balsams and tamaracks on Isle Royale, in 

 July, 1905 (Mich. Geol. Surv., Rep. 1908, 365), and Blackwelder states that 

 in late summer, in Iron county, it was seen in small bands and was especially 

 characteristic of cedar swamps (Auk, XXVI, 1909, 368). 



We do not know of the actual finding of a nest within the limits of the 

 state, but the University of Michigan expedition found it common in the 

 Porcupine Mountains, Ontonagon count)^ from July 15 to August 14, 

 1904, and females were seen to carry nesting material from the camp into 

 the woods, while the reproductive organs of the specimens taken showed 

 that they were breeding. Dr. W. H. Dunham also writes that it is rather 

 common in Kalkaska county and nests in April and early May, but he does 

 not seem to have actually found the nest. Mr. O. B. Warren states that 

 in Marquette county it is an abundant migrant and breeds. He adds 

 "Although the vast majority of those seen in migration do not stop to 

 breed, yet the better one becomes acquainted with the bird at Palmer 

 the more common is seems in summer" (1898). 



In Wisconsin, according to Kumlien and Hollister, it is not known to 

 breed, although Dr. Hoy believed that it nested in the pine regions. The 

 nest has been found in other states from about the first of May until July 1. 

 A nest was taken at Sing Sing, New York, May 25, 1883, by Dr. A. K. Fisher. 



The nest is described by Ridgway as a compact structure of pine twigs, 

 rootlets, hair, plant fibres, etc., lined with fine rootlets and hair. It is 

 placed at moderate heights in evergreen trees. The eggs are three or four, 

 pale bluish or greenish, thinly clotted with brown and black, and average 

 .62 by .50 inches. 



Even during the summer the birds are usually found in flocks and fly 

 with a wheezy, chattering note which is quite characteristic. Dr. Jonathan 

 Dwight, Jr. speaks of their song as a "soliloquizing gabble interspersed 

 with a prolonged wheeze," and says that their ordinary call-note is much 

 like the common note of the English Sparrow. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult (sexes alike): Entire upper parts brown or brownish-gray, streaked thickly with 

 blackish; under parts grayish white to almost pure white, streaked with brownish or 

 blackish; wings blackish, the primaries narrowly edged with pale yellow on outer margins, 

 and both primaries and secondaries largely sulphur-yellow toward the base; tail like the 

 wings, largely yellow at base and without any white spots at tip; bill dusky; iris brown. 

 Young similar to adults, but wing-coverts usually tipped with deep buff or tan-color. 



Length 4.50 to 5.25 inches; wing 2.75 to 2.90; tail 1.85 to 1.95; culmen .35 to .40. 



