258 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



oftener, on an average, than once every five or six years. When there is a well- 

 marked flight the birds usually arrive in November, and most of them remain 

 through the winter, while a few sometimes linger into May or even early June, 

 but I have never noted any in July or August. Ordinarily they are not numer- 

 ous, and only twice within my experience have they been really abundant — 

 in the winter of 1870 -i 871 and in that of 1899 -1900. During the latter 

 season they fairly flooded eastern Massachusetts, and in Cambridge or its 

 immediate neighborhood they were seen almost daily from November to March, 

 sometimes in flocks containing as many as forty or fifty birds each. Many of 

 them appeared in densely populated parts of the city, and they were especially 

 numerous in the grounds of the Harvard Observatory. They fed chiefly on the 

 seeds of the Norway spruce which, with those of the hemlock, they seem to 

 prefer to the seeds of any of our pines. For this reason, perhaps, they are found 

 oftener about cultivated grounds than in the pitch pine woods where the Red 

 Crossbills usually occur most numerously. 



145. Acanthis hornemannii exilipes (Coues). 

 Hoary Redpoll. 



Rare winter visitor. 



seasonal occurrence. 



November 15, 18S0, one im. male' taken, Cambridge, H. M. Spelman. 

 March 20, 1S88, one seen, Waltham, W. Faxon. 



146. Acanthis linaria (Linn.). 

 Redpoll. Lesser Redpoll. 



Irregular winter visitor, often very abundant. 



seasonal occurrence. 



October 16, 1874, one seen, Waltliam, W. Brewster. 



October 25 — April 10. 

 April 19, 1879, two ad. males ^ taken, Cambridge, W. Brewster. 



1 No. 423, collection of H. M. Spelman. 



2 Nos. 4489, 4490, collection of William Brewster. 



