592 FRINGILLID.E. 



among the brushwood that skirts the flanks of the moun- 

 tains, or covers the margins of streams in rocky dells. I 

 have seen them in August," the same author says, " scat- 

 tered over a tract overgrown with thistles, the seeds of 

 which they picked out precisely in the same manner as 

 the Goldfinch. On such occasions, unless they have pre- 

 viously been shot at or pursued, they take little heed of 

 impending danger, so that one may easily approach them." 

 This habit of unsuspecting confidence has been noticed 

 by other naturalists. The Rev. W. T. Bree remarks,* 

 " I well remember, when a very young sportsman, or 

 rather a young carrier of a gun, falling in with a flock of 

 Redpoles feeding on the seeds of the alder ; after firing 

 at them, I found that they returned to the very same 

 tree (though I was standing under it) before I could re- 

 load my gun. This they did many times, and with a per- 

 severance which I shall not easily forget." Mr. Audubon, 

 in the fourth volume of his Ornithological Biography, 

 says of the Lesser Redpole, " They were in small parties 

 of seven or eight, apparently formed by the members of 

 the same family; and although several of these groups 

 were around me, they did not intermingle until fired 

 at, when they all simultaneously rose on wing, mixed to- 

 gether, and after performing several short evolutions, 

 returned to the same bushes, separated into families, 

 and resumed their occupations. When alighted they 

 were quite unsuspecting, and so heedless as to allow a 

 close approach, scarcely regarding my presence, but cling- 

 ing to the branches, dexterously picking out the seeds of 

 the alder cones, and occasionally coming to the ground 

 after some which had dropped. Few birds exhibit a more 

 affectionate disposition than the Little Redpole, and it was 

 pleasing to see several on a twig feeding each other by 

 * The Naturalist, vol. iii. p. 452. 



