138 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



dent in Jamaica, and Sclater in Central America. Two spec- 

 imens have been taken as far north as Greenland. Wilson 

 gives it a range from Cayenne to Hudson Bay, but found it 

 quite common in Ohio and Kentucky. Audubon gives it 

 a winter resident in the Southern States, where it arrives in 

 October, and retires thence in April, a few breeding in Ken- 

 tucky. Farther north, in Maine and the British Provinces 

 of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, he found it to be ex- 

 ceedingly common. In Vermont, it appears in considerable 

 numbers about the loth, of April, -and makes the woods 

 resound with its peculiar drumming noise. Mr. Dresser ob- 

 served it near San Antonio in Texas, in small numbers, during 

 the entire year. It evidently breeds in this State, because- 

 Dr. Heerman procured eggs in close proximity to the Medina 

 River. In Southern Illinois, it arrives from September to 

 October, and remains until April, according to Mr. Ridgway : 

 while in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, it is 

 only rarely met with. 



In Eastern Pennsylvania, it is by no means as rare a bird 

 as in New England, as a year scarcely passes without a few 

 being observed. In some seasons, we have been able to pro- 

 cure as many as three specimens. Its habits, in some par- 

 ticulars, resemble those of villosus 'dn&pubescens, with whom 

 it is occasionally found associated. It is seldom to be ob- 

 served in the vicinity of farm-houses, or along our principal 

 streets, but seemingly manifests a strong predilection for 

 more quiet and retired places. Along the hills of the Wis- 

 sahickon, we have met it during the winter months, busily 

 foraging for insects, and for whatever could be obtained to 

 satisfy the demands of appetite. It seems to prefer hills 

 that have a southern exposure, and restricts its feeding al- 

 most wholly to the different species of Qucrcus and Piuiis. 

 although the birch does not fail to receive a share of its at- 

 tention. It evinces considerable shyness, and beats a hasty 

 retreat on the approach of man. 



Like most of its family, it prefers a solitary to a social life, 



