382 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



ish brown, the feathers ochraceous or buffy margined ; wings and tail fus- 

 cous, edged more or less with whitish ; belly and sides white, the latter 

 streaked with dark, or fuscous. Plumage of adult female : no pink on rump 

 or breast and generally more streaked on sides. Immature plumage : red 

 crown cap lacking, otherwise like female. Length 4.50 to 5.00 ; wing 2.80 ; 

 culmen 0.35 ; tarsus 0.55. Bill sharp and pointed with tuft of stiff bristly 

 feathers over each nostril. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern portions of Northern Hemisphere, breeding north 

 of the United States ; in winter sporadically south to Virginia, Kansas and 

 Oregon. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; common winter visitant, (Johnson). 

 Aroostook; common winter visitor, (Knight). Cumberland; common winter 

 migrant, (Mead). Franklin; irregularly abundant winter visitor, (Lee and 

 McLain). Hancock; sporadic winter resident, sometimes very abundant, 

 (Knight). Kennebec; quite common winter visitor, (Powers). Knox; win- 

 ter, (Rackliff). Oxford; visitant, (Nash). Penobscot ; irregularly abundant 

 winter visitor, (Knight). Piscataquis; common winter visitor, (Homer). 

 Sagadahoc ; common spring and fall, (Spinney). Somerset ; common winter 

 resident, (Morrell). Waldo; sporadically common winter bird, (Knight). 

 Washington; common winters, also summer resident, (Boardman). York; 

 migrant, (Adams). 



Though usually common and generally distributed through- 

 out the State from late October or more usually about November 

 tenth up to late April, or occasionally even as late as May 

 nineteenth (Brown), the species varies in abundance from 

 season to season. Some winters they are here by thousands, 

 other winters only a few are seen. Mr. Boardman reported 

 the species as summer resident near Calais, and probably it 

 very rarely remained there through the summer. 



There have been what I regard as well authenticated reports 

 from the upper Woolastook and Saint Francis Valleys of this 

 species remaining rarely in the summer, but it needs further 

 research to verify this absolutely. The semi-boreal conditions 

 prevailing there are more favorable to their remaining than 

 about Calais, where Mr. Boardman found them. 



During the fall and winter they sweep about the country in 

 roving, restless flocks of ten to several hundred, flying in 

 undulating waves with a characteristic short whistling chirp 

 much like " chip-chip." Occasionally this call is varied by 



