612 FRINGILLID^J. 



of being awake ; he no sooner observed that his object was 

 effected than he retired to the window, and waited patiently 

 until I arose. As the spring approached, he used to whistle 

 occasionally in the morning, and his notes were exceedingly 

 rich and full. About the time, however, when the species 

 began to remove to the North, his former familiarity en- 

 tirely disappeared." Mr. Audubon further says, " While 

 in the State of Maine, I observed that these birds when 

 travelling fly in silence, and at a considerable height above 

 the trees. They alight on the topmost branches, so that it 

 is difficult to obtain them, unless one has a remarkably 

 good gun. But, on waiting a few minutes, you see the 

 flock, usually composed of seven or eight individuals, de- 

 scend from branch to branch, and betake themselves to the 

 ground, where they pick up gravel, hop towards the nearest 

 pool or streamlet, and bathe by dipping their heads, and 

 scattering the water over them, until they are quite wet ; 

 after which they fly to the branches of low bushes, shake 

 themselves with so much vigour as to produce a smart 

 rustling sound, and arrange their plumage. They then 

 search for food among the boughs of the taller trees." 



In the male bird from which the figure was drawn, the 

 beak is dark brown, the lower mandible tinged with dark 

 red ; the base of the upper mandible and the eyes sur- 

 rounded with a narrow band of dusky black : the irides 

 hazel ; the whole of the head, cheeks, ear-coverts, and the 

 neck behind, vermilion red ; the feathers of the back and 

 scapulars greyish black, margined with red ; those of the 

 rump and the upper tail-coverts with broader margins of 

 red, producing as they overlay each other a continuous 

 surface of red colour like that on the head and neck ; the 

 wing-coverts and quill-feathers greyish black; both sets of 

 wing-coverts with broad outer edges, and the tips white, 



