404 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. [o"^ 



123. Acanthis linaria. Redpoll. — Common. An erratic winter mi- 

 grant in both counties. Sometimes appearing in hundreds. Roving 

 flocks of Redpolls may be seen at all times and in all places from October 

 until the end of April. I saw numbers of Redpolls in the town of Miles 

 City January 3, 1905, when the temperature was twenty below zero. In 

 November, any flock of small birds, seen flying, will almost certainly be 

 Redpolls. During the whole of this month, restless flocks flit through 

 the pine hills, alighting on the ground to feed on sage-brush, and the 

 ubiquitous weed which, a month earlier, is sought eagerly by Tree Sparrows. 

 "While thus scattered over the hillsides, a large flock seems to contain only 

 about twenty birds, as so few are in sight, and these are perched on the 

 sage tops, or on the withered heads of the aforesaid pink daisies. If the 

 birds become alarmed, they fly to the skeleton branch of some dead cedar, 

 when the reunited flock is shown to be ten times the number supposed. I 

 have noticed that in these flocks the adult males, with carmine breasts, are 

 in proportion of about six per cent, to the females and young of the year. 



In midwinter, when deep snow covers the ground, large flocks of Red- 

 polls may be seen on the prairie, eking out a scanty subsistence from sage- 

 brush. Six or more birds, clinging to a single shoot as they endeavor to 

 detach what few seeds still adhere, make a pretty sight, 



On March 2, 1904, I was driving up cattle during a blizzard. The 

 nearest heifer stepped on a sage-bush, when out fluttered a solitary male 

 Redpoll, in splendid plumage, and attempted to alight on her hock. The 

 heifer kicked at, and narrowly missed the bird, which seemed so dazed 

 that it might, apparently, have been caught by hand. I have seen Red- 

 polls chasing each other as though they were pairing, on March 22. At 

 this time the males sing first after sunrise, or between six and seven. 



124. Acanthis linaria holboellii. Holbcell's Redpoll. — Rare. Two 

 skins of this subspecies were obtained by Mr. C. F. Hedges at Miles City, 

 March 2, 1900. (See Louis B. Bishop, Auk, XVIII, p. 195.) 



125. Acanthis linaria rostrata. Greater Redpoll. — Rare. Three 

 specimens of this bird were obtained by Mr. C. F. Hedges at Miles City on 

 March 1 and 6, 1900 (recorded in 'The Auk,' by Dr. Louis B. Bishop, as 

 above). 



126. Astragalinus tristis. American Goldfinch. — Common summer 

 visitor in both counties. Nests indifferently in pine hills and river valleys. 

 At least two pairs of Goldfinches nested annually on my ranch near Terry, 

 Custer County, and flocks came to my water-troughs in Dawson County. 



127. Astragalinus tristis pallidus. Western Goldfinch. — This sub- 

 species is included by Dr. Meatus in his 'Birds of Fort Custer,' which was 

 formerly in Custer County. (Condor, Vol. VI, No. 1, p. 21.) 



128. Spinus pinus. Pine Siskin. — Rare. Six came regularly to my 

 water-troughs in Dawson County during July. 1906. Two were seen near 

 Knowlton May 30, 1907. 



129. Passer domesticus. English Sparrow. — Tolerablv common. 



