BIRDS OF 



in Octciber in laif^e flocks, swarming on tlie rank weeds in 

 waste places, and lianging on the altler buslies by tlie banks of 

 creeks and gullies. They are extreniel}' restless, and in certain 

 districts the twittering sound of their voices will fill the air for 

 days together, till they rise and pass away like a cloud of 

 smoke, perhaps to be seen no more for the season. They are 

 said to have been found nesting in New York State, and also in 

 Massachusetts, but at present I have no record of their being 

 found so engaged in Ontario. As the country becomes more 

 explored we shall have many such items to add to our present 

 stock of knowledge of the birds. 



Genus PLECTROPHENAX Stejnegek. 



210. PLECTROPHENAX NIVALIS (Linn.). ^.U. 



Snowflake. 



Bill small, truly conic, ruffed at baie ; hind claw decidedly curved. In 

 breeding plumage pure white, the back, wings and tail variegated with 

 black ; bill and feet black. As generally seen in the United States, the white 

 is clouded with warm, clear brown, and the bill is brownish. Length, about 

 7 ; wing, 4;^ ; tail, 2^. 



H.\B. Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the 

 arctic regions ; in North America south in winter into the Northern Unit 

 States, irregularly to Georgia, Southern Illinois and Kansas. 



Nest, on the ground ; composed of grass and moss lined with f^.^^ 

 concealed by a tuft ot grass or projecting ledge of rock ; cavity de ,.,-, . ^■^'^ 

 warm and thick. 



Eggs, 4 ; white, scrawled and spotted with brown. 



The Snowbirds are our most regular visitor.^j from the north 

 and they come in greater munbers than any o^ the other species 

 which descend from high latitudes to avoid the rio^ors of 

 winter. As early as the 20th of October, Oieir tinkling, icv notes 

 may be heard, but more frequently the -birds are first observed 

 later in the season, driving wath wild eccentric fliglit before the 

 earliest flurry of snow. By the shorejs of the lakes, on bare sandy 

 spots, thinly grown over with tho Andropogon scoparius, on the 

 seeds of which they freely feed, they may be found with tolerable 

 certainty any time between the end of October and the first of 



