BIRDS OF IVIGTUT. 35 



theless I have seen in autumn and winter birds that had, 

 besides reddish crowns, pale red or pink colored breasts, and 

 were otherwise in common autumn dress. 



It might be supposed either that these birds have obtained 

 the red color after moulting, or that some of my captive 

 birds, on account of their captivity, as well as the change of 

 food (I fed them chiefly on barley-meal and hemp-seed), 

 obtained a different color from what they would have borne 

 had they been free. I may add that the birds I saw in win- 

 ter seemed to me rather lighter than those I had seen during 

 the autumn. 



[It is well known that many birds do not resume their 



brightest colors after moulting when in captivity. M. C.] 

 HOUSE SPARROW/ 



PASSER DOMESTICTJS. 



A few of these Sparrows were introduced here some years 

 ago. During the first few winters they fed on oats; and 

 in the summer laid their eggs in boxes placed outside the 

 houses. On my arrival in 1886 there were only five males 

 left, and in 1888 only two, so there seems no immediate 

 danger of Greenland being overrun with Sparrows, as has 

 been the fate of the United States and Canada. 



What has acted so injuriously upon the Sparrows here is 

 so I believe not so much the severe cold, as the long- 

 continued storms of cold wind, accompanied by snow and 

 rain. 



SNOWFLAKE. 



PLECTROPHENAX NIVALIS. 



This merry songster is abundant in summer, but I have 

 never seen it in winter, neither in the valleys nor on the 



