FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 55 



Dr. Cooper states tliat he found this Sparrow only a winter resident in 

 Washington Territory, where, in company with other Sparrows, it kept con- 

 stantly on the ground, frequenting the thickets and scratching among the 

 fallen leaves for its food. It was most common in the interior, but in very 

 cold weather sought the coast, in company with the Snowbird and other 

 species. He observed a few lingering about the Straits of Fuca until April. 

 After that he saw no more of them until their return southward in October. 

 During their winter residence Dr. Cooper never heard them sing. Dr. Suck- 

 ley found them rather abundant near Fort Steilacoom, though not so common 

 as the Mdospiza rvjina, wliich they greatly resembled in habits and in gen- 

 eral appearance. 



Dr. Heermann describes them as abundant and migratory in California, 

 visiting that State only in winter. He speaks of them as of a solitary and 

 quiet nature, resorting to the thickets and underwood for its food, turning 

 over the leaves and scratching up the ground in the manner of the Brown 

 Thrush, occasionally hopping backwards as if to ascertain the results of its 

 labors. 



Dr. Cooper, in his Report on the Birds of California, reaffirms that this 

 bird is only a winter visitant to the lower country near the Columbia, but 

 also conjectures that it spends the summer in the Cascade Mountains, be- 

 tween April and October. Specimens have been obtained near San Fran- 

 cisco in winter. It seemed to him to be both a shy and a silent bird, fre- 

 quenting only woods or thick bushes, and while there constantly scratching 

 among the fallen leaves, and feeding both on seeds and insects. He has 

 seen either this bird or the P. mcgarliynchus as far south as San Diego in 

 winter. He has also noticed its arrival near San Francisco as early as Octo- 

 ber 20. 



On the Spokan Plains, in British Columbia, Mr. J. K. Lord first met with 

 this species. They were there not uncommon in dark swampy places east 

 of the Cascades. These birds he found remarkable for their singular habit 

 of scratching dead leaves or decayed material of any sort with tlieir feet, 

 exactly as do barn-door fowls, — sending the dirt right, left, and behind. It 

 picks up seeds, insects, larvse, or anything eatable that it thus digs out, and 

 then proceeds to scratch for more. The long and unusually strong claws with 

 which this bird is provided seem particularly well adapted for these habits, 

 so unusual in a Sparrow. At almost any time, by waiting a few moments, 

 one may be pretty sure to hear the scratching of several of these birds from 

 under the tangle of fallen timber. 



Several specimens were obtained in Sitka by Bischoff and others, but 

 without any record of their habits. 



