^° 1 i907^ 1 ^] Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. 403 



bird was during the early days of February, 1893, when staying at the 

 Macqueen Hotel in Miles City. I then observed a large flock for some days 

 through the window; the birds remained in the Cottonwood trees outside, 

 and appeared paralyzed from cold and starvation. The weather was 

 then terribly severe; forty-two degrees below zero had been registered on 

 the first and second of the month. On the third instant, one of these 

 finches, almost frozen to death, ventured into the hotel, through the 

 front door (momentarily opened) and was captured alive. I endeavored 

 to restore it, but the bird was too far gone, and shortly expired. When 

 hunting mule deer in the Terry badlands (in Custer County), or in the red 

 scoriaceous hills beyond (in Dawson County), large flocks of these birds 

 add charm to the wintry landscape, as they balance on the tall rye grass, 

 or whirl past in erratic curves. 



Sometimes the flocks complete circles in the air, when they look like a 

 variegated wheel of birds, or fly untiringly about the cedar thickets after 

 the manner of Bohemian Waxwings. During snowy weather they allow 

 an approach to within four or five yards when engrossed with grass seeds 

 and withered dog daisies on the bare patches of the hillsides. If forced 

 to rise, they sweep round in a dense cluster, and immediately return to the 

 same spot — their wings making a loud, rustling noise. 



Rosy Finches are very numerous at my ranch in Dawson County; I 

 have seen about a thousand ,at one time by the water trough distributed 

 in the pines and on the ground. A long stream of birds may keep flying 

 into a draw for about a minute and be all lost to sight in the long grass 

 upon alighting, but the same flock perched in a small dead cedar (completely 

 covering it), is a remarkable and charming sight. The winter of 1905-06 

 was a great contrast to previous years, as for some inexplicable reason, 

 no Rosy Finches appeared. 



Writing of this species at Fort Keough, Captain Thorne states: "When 

 it is cold and stormy they gather into the post by thousands. . . .They 

 are often seen sheltering themselves in the old nests of Cliff Swallows." 



121. Leucosticte tephrocotis littoralis. Hepburn's Leucosticte. — 

 Common. I agree with Captain Thorne that this species occurs "with the 

 last in about the proportion of one in twenty." On November 13, 1903, 

 at my ranch in Dawson County, three remarkably tame birds came alone 

 to the water-troughs. 



122. Acanthis hornemannii exilipes. Hoary Redpoll. — Rare. A 

 Hoary Redpoll was observed by me at my ranch in Dawson County on 

 March 9, 1905. 1 It was very tame, and in a flock of common Redpolls 

 would have looked like a white bird. 



Dr. Louis B. Bishop has a note in the Auk (Vol. XVIII, p. 195) of two 

 Hoary Redpolls collected by Mr. C. F. Hedges, at Miles City, on February 

 26 and March 12, 1900. 



i See Auk, Vol. XXII, p. 313. 



