FEINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 63 



the whole flock would go off together, uttering a low and melodious whistle. 

 In May and June several were still about near Howard's Rancho, and on his 

 return from Houston, in June, he succeeded in shooting one in its full sum- 

 mer plumage, when its specific name is peculiarly appropriate. He does not, 

 however, think that, as a general thing, any of them remain about San An- 

 tonio to breed. 



They breed in great numbers on the plains of Wyoming Territory, and 

 probably also in Colorado, Montana, and Dakota. The Smithsonian collec- 

 tion embraces specimens obtained in July from the Yellowstone, from Platte 

 Eiver, Pole Creek, the Black Hills, and P>ridger's Pass, indicating that they 

 breed in these localities ; also specimens from Texas, New Mexico, Sonora, 

 and Espia, in Mexico, but none from California. 



Dr. Kennerly, who met with these birds both in Sonora and at Espia, on 

 the Mexican Boundary Survey, states that he oliserved them in the valley 

 of the river early in the morning, in very large flocks. During the greater 

 part of the day they feed on the hills among the bushes. When on the wing 

 they keep very close together, so that a single discharge of shot would some- 

 times bring down twenty or thirty. Mr. J. H. Clark, on the same survey, 

 also states that he sometimes found them occurring in flocks of hundreds. 

 The greatest numbers were seen near Presidio del Norte. Great varieties of 

 plumage were observed in the same flock. The food seemed to be seeds 

 almost exclusively. They were very simultaneous in all their movements. 

 Stragglers were never observed remaining behind after the flock had started. 

 They are, he states, the most absolutely gregarious birds lie has ever met 

 with. 



Dr. Coues, who regarded this bird as one highly characteristic of the prai- 

 rie fauna, writes me that he met with it in great numbers in Kansas, soon 

 after leaving Port Ptiley, and saw it every day until he reached the Pvaton 

 Mountains in New Mexico. " For two or three days, in fact, from Fort 

 Larned to the mountains," he writes, " I scarcely saw anything else. This 

 was the first week in June, and most of the birds seemed to be paired and 

 nesting, though occasionally a dozen or more were seen together, flocking 

 like the Blackbirds that they strongly recall. They M^ere in full song, and 

 proved delightful vocalists. Sometimes they warble from some spray or low 

 bush offering a stand a little above the level flower-beds of the prairie, but 

 oftener they mount straight up, hovering high in the air on tremulous wings, 

 pouring forth their melodious strains until, seemingly exhausted, they sink 

 back to tlie ground. At such times it is interesting to watch two rival males, 

 each straining every nerve to mount higher than the other, and sing more 

 acceptably to its mate hidden in the verdure below. This haliit of rising on 

 the wing to sing, so famed in the case of the Skylark, seems not confined to 

 particular species, but to be a forced practice of a nnmlier of different birds 

 residing in open level regions, that do not afford the elevated perches usually 

 chosen by woodland songsters for their performances. The ordinary flight 



