FRINGILLID^E — THE FIXCHES. 497 



together, in flight, as making a confused chirping, with a rattling noise, and 

 moving off with a simultaneous twitter. They were attracted to the pines Ly 

 the Crossbills, and were busily employed in collecting the seeds, dropped from 

 the cones as the Crossbills opened them. They at times fed on the buds of 

 fruit-trees. They were always found to be fat, even on their first arrival, 

 and there were no obvious reasons for their movements. 



]\Ir. Boardman speaks of them as common at Calais by the first of the 

 winter. At Norway, ^Nle., Professor Verrill found them very common in fall, 

 winter, and spring, and most abundant in March and A})ril. In Springfield 

 they are, according to jSIr. Allen, an irregular and occasional visitant, com- 

 ing in very large flocks one year, and again not seen for several years. In a 

 more recent paper (1870) Mr. Allen states that during the ]ireceding fi\'e years 

 these birds have been several times very numerous in jMassachusetts, appear- 

 ing in quite large flocks. 



Mr. Audubon met with these birds in Labrador the last of July, and ob- 

 tained specimens of different ages. He thinks their notes more like those 

 of the Siskin of Europe than of our Goldfinch, uttered both when the birds 

 are on the w^ng and when they have alighted. They were in small parties of 

 seven or eight, evidently members of the same family. They were tame and 

 familiar, and fearlessly returned to the same spot after having been shot 

 at. They were also remarkably affectionate, and he lre(|uently observed them 

 passing seeds one to the other in the most loving manner. 



Dr. Coues also observed this bird in Labrador, and described it as ^. fus- 

 ccscciis. He found it abundant along the coast, and Avas struck with its re- 

 semblance, in habits, to the Chri/somitris tristis. It was remarkably unsus- 

 picious and familiar, and showed no signs of fear even when very closely 

 approached. It frequented, almost exclusively, the scrubby junipers that 

 grow cA'erywhere in open places in thick impenetrable patches. He describes 

 its flight as irregular, rising and falling in curves, and seldom protracted to 

 any great distance. While passing overhead, it uttered a peculiar rattling 

 chirp. He thinks it has no song. 



Dr. Kirtland informs me that early in the winter of 18G8 his grandson 

 picked up a wing-broken male Eed-Poll, and placed it in liis greenhouse. It 

 began at once to feed on crumbs of bread and hay-seed, and rapidly recovered. 

 It soon acquired the liabitof leaping from shelf to slielf, among the plants, and 

 was finally seen climbing up some stately Pelargonium shrubs, and suspending 

 itself, parrot-like, by its feet from the limbs, capturing aphides. From that 

 time it took no other food, living exclusively on the parasitic insects of the 

 ])lants. So active was it in capturing these, that for two months it was not 

 necessary to fumigate the greenhouse to destroy them. From day to day a 

 female Eed-Poll hovered over the building, and her calls were responded to 

 by the invalid. Later in the season he escaped from his confinement, and 

 was seen to rejoin his faithful mate, which had remained near him all the 

 winter. As in Europe, this species in the Arctic regions of America has been 

 found nesting in low trees and liushes, from two to six feet from the ground. 



