TEPER ORP LE “FINCH: 15 
the same locality and again saw both male and female. Feeling sure 
they must have nested there, after diligent search I discovered the nest, 
located, as usual, some forty feet from the ground, near the top of a 
large spruce tree, and contained only two eggs, well advanced in 
incubation.” The writer quoted, surmises that this late domestic ar- 
rangement was probably owing to the first nest of the pair having been 
destroyed ; or that, as the actions of the birds seemed to indicate, they 
felt out of their latitude, at that, for the species, extreme southern point. 
There seems to me, to be good reason for anticipating the capture 
of this bird, ere long, in Central New York during the Winter. Al- 
ready it has become a Winter resident in the Hudson River Valley, 
where, in certain localities, it is at that season of the year comparatively 
abundant. 
Mr. Edgar A. Mearns, of Highland Falls, N. Y., in his ‘ Notes on 
some of the less hardy Winter Residents of the Hudson River Valley,” 
in the organ of the Nuttall Club for January, 1879, says: ‘‘ These beau- 
tiful birds and sweet songsters are regular Winter residents. In Win- 
ter there is always a preponderance of females, * * * *.” Even 
the females are heard singing during the coldest weather ; this is of 
common occurrence in early Winter. They are gregarious, often as- 
sembling in very large flocks. On such occasions they are quite wild, 
and, on being approached, all rise at once on the wing, with a loud, 
rushing noise, accompanied by certain peculiar wild notes, which pro- 
duces quite a startling effect. They feed upon seeds, chiefly those of 
the iron-wood (Ostrya virginica), and red cedar berries. ?’ 
Dr. Merriam, in his Review of the Birds of Connecticut, gives the 
species residence and records their abundant breeding. He further re- 
marks, “Mr. Grinnell informs me that he has taken it during every 
