GREY-CROWNED FINCH. 155 
Ptarmigan Hill, because these grouse were so very 
plentiful on it. It was late in October, and we 
were hurrying back to winter-quarters, hourly 
expecting the first fall of snow. I observed 
a flock of nine or ten birds pecking along 
the ground, much as larks feed; the more I 
looked at them, the more I was puzzled to 
imagine what birds they could be, at such an 
altitude, so late in the year. To settle the matter 
I firedin amongst them, and picked up three—a 
female, and two males in splendid plumage. I 
tried for more, but never saw them again on the 
Cascades. 
In July, in the following summer, I was on 
the summit of the Rocky Mountains, near the 
Kootanie Pass, and again saw these beautiful 
birds feeding on the ground. I shot several, 
but all of them were young birds of the year, 
barely fledged, or badly-plumaged old ones. 
Hence there can be no doubt these finches breed 
on the Cascades and Rocky Mountains, in both 
about the same altitude, 7,000 feet above the sea- 
level. They are very late migrants, or they 
winter on the mountains; although I hardly 
think they could bear the cold, or find a suffi- 
ciency of food, the winter being very severe, and 
the snow three feet and more in depth. 
