248 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



a very rare visitor in Eastern Pennsylvania; 

 very few individuals have been observed by us 

 during the last five years. Particular species 

 appear only in special localities in unusually large 

 numbers, after the lapse of a certain number of 

 years. In Southern New Jersey, however, it is 

 encountered in flocks of a score or more. It 

 restricts itself mostly to pine barrens, where a 

 plentiful supply of its favorite food abounds, 

 seldom visiting human habitations. 



Although preferring wooded regions for the 

 obvious reason that supplies are more easily pro- 

 cured in such situations, yet it must not be pre- 

 sumed that the species is unnecessarily shy. The 

 reverse of this will be found to be the. case. For 

 lack of suspicion it is only surpassed \>y sEgiothus 

 Unarms. Like the latter it will permit the sports- 

 man to approach within a few paces, without mani- 

 festing the slightest distrust or timidity. On 

 account of the existence of suitable and abundant 

 food, there is much less of that nomadic life which 

 in so strikingly characteristic of Ampelis cedrorum, 

 and other species. Its occupancy of a region being 

 more permanent and stable. 



In winter its food consists mainly of the seeds, 

 of Plnus inops, P. rigida, and Abies nigra. The 

 berries of Junipzrus Virginiana, J. cdihmunis, and 

 Lonicera periclymenum, and graminaceous seeds 

 are occasionally eaten. These with the ova, pupae, 

 and images of Cratonychus cinereus, C. pertinax, 

 and mature forms of Harpalus compar, H. pensyl- 



