HOARY REDPOLL 407 



northern Mackenzie (Fort McPherson, Anderson River, Caribou 

 Rapids of Hanbury River), northeastern Manitoba (Churchill), 

 northern Quebec (Fort Chimo), and northern Labrador (Nachvak). 



Winter range. — ^Winters irregularly south to England, former East 

 Prussia, Kamchatka, the Komandorskie Islands, southern Alaska 

 (Kodiak Island, Chitina), southern British Columbia (Okanagan), 

 eastern Montana (Miles City), southwestern South Dakota (Black 

 Hills), Minnesota (Faribault), northern Ilhnois (Mount Carroll, near 

 Chicago), northwestern Indiana (Mineral Springs), northern Ohio 

 (Lucas County), New Jersey (Bergen Co.), southeastern New York 

 (Bronx), Connecticut (East Haven), Massachusetts (Nantasket 

 Beach), and New Brunswick (Petitcodiac). 



Casual records. — Casual in Hungary, Maryland (Berlin), Saint 

 Lawrence Island, Sakhalin Islands, and northern Japan. 



Egg dates. — Alaska: 12 records, June 1 to June 29. 



ACANTHIS FLAMMEA FLAMMEA (Linneaus) 



Common Redpoll 



PLATES 22 AND 23 



Contributed by Roland C. Clement 



Habits 



When the cold air masses of winter extend their fronts into our 

 northern tier of states, a period of welcome surcease from the stormi- 

 ness of the seasonal transitions descends upon regions within their 

 influence. During this month or more of calm the days scintillate 

 and begin to lengthen, and the dwellers of the northland, human as 

 well as wild, come out of hiding to enjoy the sun and the cold, dry 

 air. These are among the most beautiful days in the northland; the 

 temperature hovers between — 10° and — 20° F., there is no wind, 

 and a great silence lies upon the winter barrens. From the distant 

 spruces that dot the valley slopes like stubble come the faint tin- 

 klings of white-winged crossbills and the occasional rattle of redpolls, 

 sounds so faint that you must hear them repeated to feel sure that the 

 sound is not coming from your own lungs. 



Not many redpolls winter near the edge of timber, but some do, 

 and only a year in the semibarrens, that broad, indefinite ecotone 

 between the treeless tundra and the spruce-fir-larch forests of the 

 taiga, can give one a sense of thorough familiarity with these small 

 finches. To those who have not visited the northland, the redpolls 

 remain erratic winter visitors; they rarely^go south of the 40th 

 parallel. They are rare in many years, but are sometimes abundant, 

 often occurring then in large flocks, the members of which may be 



