230 FRINGILLID^ : FINCHES. 



conifers, now falling with equal avidity upon waste 

 weedy tracts, to glean the seeds of coarse plants near 

 the ground. The gullet is very capacious, almost like 

 the crop of a fowl or pigeon, and the greedy birds 

 sometimes stuff themselves full to the throat — putting 

 more grist in the hopper than the gizzard can grind at 

 once. They are not less irregular in their times of 

 nesting than in their other habits ; but they breed early 

 as a rule. Tlie Cambridge nest above mentioned had 

 its full complement of four eggs on the 9th of May ; 

 and Mr. Merriam's New York observations upon the 

 nests were made in April. Common and well-known 

 as the birds themselves are, the nest and eggs have 

 seldom come to the notice of naturalists ; for the 

 structure is usually placed high up in evergreen trees, 

 artfully concealed in the thick tufts of foliage. The 

 eggs are more like Red-polls' than Goldfinches', be- 

 ing of a decided though pale greenish ground-color, 

 and quite spotted with brownish, chiefly on the larger 

 end; they measure about 0.70x0.50. 



SNOW BUNTING ; SNOW-FLAKE. 



Plectrophanes nivalis {L.) Mcy. 



Chars. In summer : Pure white, the middle of the back, the wings, 

 and the tail, mostly black ; bill and feet black. Seldom if ever 

 seen in this perfect dress in the United States. As found with 

 us, the white is variously clouded with rich warm brown, which 

 colors most of the upper parts, washes along the sides of the 

 body, forms a collar on the breast and a patch on the ears, and 

 deepens to blackish on the crown ; the black dorsal area is mixed 

 with brown and white ; the feet are black as in summer, but 

 the bill is mostly or entirely yellowish. Length, about 7.90 ; ex- 

 tent, 13.00 ; wing, 4.50 ; tail, 2.75. / 



