32 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



He also describes this species as eminently petulant and pugnacious. 

 Two males would often pursue each other until the weaker was forced to 

 abandon the valley, and seek refuge elsewhere. He seldom saw more than 

 two or three pairs in a tract of several miles in extent. By the 4th of July 

 the young had left their nests and were following their parents. As from 

 that time the old birds ceased to sing, he inferred that they raised but one 

 brood in a season. Before he left Labrador these birds had all disappeared. 



Although first discovered on the coast of Labrador, subsequent explorations 

 have shown this bird to be far more common at the West than it is at the 

 East, wdiere indeed it is exceedingly rare. Not a specimen, that I am aware 

 of, has ever been found in Maine, although it probably does occasionally occur 

 there ; and only a very few isolated individuals had been taken in Massa- 

 chusetts l)efore the spring of. 1872, when they were noticed by Mr. Brewster 

 and Mr. Henshaw in considerable numbers. These birds, seven or eight in 

 num1)er, were shot, with two exceptions, in May, between the 14th and the 

 25th. Three were taken in Springfield by Mr. Allen, one in Newburyport 

 by Mr. Hoxie, two in Hudson by Mr. Jillson, and two in Cambridge by 

 Mr. Brewster. The latter were obtained, one in September and the other in 

 October. In May, 1872, Mr. Brewster obtained six others. Mr. Allen had 

 met with this Finch in Wayne County, K Y., in May, where it was not 

 uncommon, and in Northern Illinois, where it was quite numerous. A few 

 have been taken near New York City, and in the neighborhood of Phila- 

 delphia, where they are regarded as very rare. Professor Baird, however, 

 frequently met with them at Carlisle, Penn. 



Farther west, from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific, they are much 

 more common. Mr. Eidgway states that they occasionally winter in South- 

 ern Illinois, wdiere they frequent retired thickets near open fields. They 

 have been found breeding near Eacine, Wis., by Dr. Hoy, and have been met 

 with also in Nebraska in considerable numbers ; and, during the breeding- 

 season, Mr. Audubon met with them on the Upper Missouri. 



Prom March to May Mr. Dresser found these birds very abundant in the 

 fields near the San Antonio Eiver, and in some swampy grounds. They 

 seemed to prefer that sort of locality, and the banks of the river, keeping 

 among the flags and rushes. Their stomachs were found to contain small 

 seeds. Mr. Lincecum also met with a few in Washington County of the 

 same State. 



It was not met witli in Arizona by Dr. Cones, but Dr. Kennerly found it 

 in the month of February from the Big Sandy to the Great Colorado Eiver. 

 It confined itself to the thick bushes along the streams, and when seen M-as 

 generally busily hopping from twig to twig in search of food. When started 

 up, its flight was very rapid and near the earth. 



Dr. Heermann obtained this species, not unfrequently, both in Northern 

 California and in the Tejon Valley. On all occasions he found it in company 

 with flocks of Sparrows, composed of several species. 



