420 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Geog. Dist.— Eastern North America west to the Plains; breeding in Lab- 

 rador and Hudson Bay region ; wintering from Maine to the Carolinas, Ken- 

 tucky and Kansas. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; common migrant, (Johnson). Aroos- 

 took ; common migrant in spring and fall, seen in early August at Fort Kent, 

 (Knight). Cumberland; common migrant, (Mead); rather common winter 

 resident, (Brown, C. B. P. p. 14). Franklin ; common winter resident, (Rich- 

 ards). Hancock; common spring and fall migrant, (Knight). Kennebec; 

 quite common, (Gardiner Branch). Knox; winter, (Rackliff). Oxford; 

 (Nash). Penobscot; common migrant, occasional throughout the winter, 

 (Knight). Piscataquis; winter visitor, (Homer). Sagadahoc; (Spratt). Som- 

 erset, common winter resident, most abundant in fall and spring, (Morrell). 

 Waldo; common spring and fall migrant, a few winter, (Knight). Wash- 

 ington; only in migrations, (Boardman); abundant in winter, few in spring, 

 (Clark). York; migrant, (Adams). 



Near Bangor in the spring migration the first influx of 

 individuals appears from March twentieth to April fifth and 

 the tide of migration continues until the last ones have gone, 

 about May sixteenth. In the fall the usual date of appearance 

 is in early September, generally about the fourth and the tide 

 passes along through October, only a few remaining through 

 the winter. In spring as they pass along many give voice to 

 a sweet warbling song which some observers have likened to 

 the song of the Canary, though to me the resemblance is not 

 apparent. The usual alarm note is a "chip" and they also 

 utter a few twitters. 



The food in winter consists of seeds of various weeds, grasses, 

 golden-rods and asters and similar plants which protrude above 

 the snow. In fall and spring they eat small beetles, smooth 

 caterpillars, flies and various grubs and larvae, but even then 

 seeds form the predominating articles of diet. 



The nests are built on or very near the ground, composed 

 of moss and grass lined with rootlets and hair. A set of eggs 

 in my collection was taken from a nest composed of moss and 

 grass, placed on the ground. The locality was near Cut-throat, 

 Labrador, June 19, 1896. These eggs measure 0.70 x 0.55, 

 0.69 X 0.56, 0.70 x 0.56 and are pale greenish, very finely 

 and thickly spotted with reddish brown evenly over the entire 



