6 ROOSTING IN THE SNOW. 



the numerous berries with vvliich tlie northern forests 

 abomul. Very often, however, it then sits in the trees, 

 and commonly in their most umbrageous parts ; but iu 

 the winter, when snow covers the ground, it is rarely 

 met with elsewhere than on the pines, the leaves of which, 

 as said, then constitute its chief sustenance. 



In summer and autumn one finds these birds alone 

 or in families ; but during the winter the males for the 

 most iiart pack, and often, as will presently be shown, in 

 very large numbers. 



The Capercali generally roosts on trees, though not 

 always, as stated by Swedish ornithologists ; for in the 

 winter, more especially if the weather be very severe, it 

 not unfrequently passes the night, and it may be tlie 

 day also, in the snow. It usually burrows into it at 

 dusk, and thus snugly ensconced remains until morning, 

 when, leaving its warm and comfortable quarters, it flies 

 uj) into the adjacent pines to feed. 



The Capercali burrows into the snoAV horizontally, so 

 that the spot whence it emerges is somewhat distant from 

 that where it enters. The depth of the burrow is 

 said to be regulated by the temperature ; for if very 

 cold, it is proportionately greater. Some writers assert, 

 that when the bird is thus embedded in the snow, its bill 

 protrudes above the surface ; but this I much doubt ; for, 

 excepting the aperture by which it entered — rendered, 

 however, hardly perceptible by the collapse of the snow — 

 nothing whatever makes its presence known, at least to 

 the casual observer. But it is only when the snow is iu 

 a loose state that it can burrow in the manner spoken 

 of; for if there is a crust upon the surface, it would 

 be difficult, if not impossible, for the bird to force its 

 way through the obstruction. 



This rather peculiar habit of roosting in the snow — 

 which, however, is also common to the Black-Cock, the 



