AMPHIJD.K -Tin: CIIATTKUKIW. ^f)t) 



Boss spon!\<< of tliriii as not v.wv thnm^linut flic district in wliicli tlirv 

 wintt'i', l»ut vet not iiuiih'Ious. lie adds thiit at (licat Twar Lake tlirv are 

 very l>lriitirul, :nid that tlicv an* rrpnitrtl to nest there. Mr. Pall states 

 that tliey were 4uite euiiminii at Xidatn, where they did not arrixc lietore 

 tJune In, or hiter. He ohtained a nundier of skins from tlie Indians, taken 

 in his alisenee. He adda that it hreetls, and its eggs have been obtained at 

 Fort Yukon. 



Kxeept in a few instances, where Dr. ('oopcr noticed tliis specie's, in 

 Septend>er, at Fort Liraniie, and also when he olitaine«l an individual on 

 the Colorado, none of these birds have been seen west of the Ifocky Moun- 

 tains. The bird obtaine«l by l>r. Cooper was, in his opinion, a straggler from 

 Kome neij^hboring mountain. It made its appearance .January !(►, alt<'ra 

 period of steamy weather, and was shot while feeding on the l»eriies of the 

 mistletoe. 



This bird was tii*st noticed in America, in the spring of ISi'i;, near the 

 sources of the Athabasca JJiver, by Mr. l)runimond, and in the same season 

 by Sir John llichardson, at (Jreat liear Lake, latitude b.' . In the latter 

 region he states that they api)eared in tlocks about the 24th of May. At 

 that time the s}»ring thaw had exposed the berries of the A rb tf f t/.s und the 

 Vavviniuiu, that had been covered during the winter. It stayed only a few 

 days, and none of the Indians knew where it bred, or had ever seen its nest. 

 Afterwards, early in May, 1S27, Sirdohn IJichardson saw a large Hock of three 

 or four hundred individuals at Carlton House, (jn the Saskatchewan. They 

 all alighteil in a grove of j»oplars, on one or two trees, making a l<jud twit- 

 tering noi.se. They staved only alM)ut an hour in the mornini.;, and were too 

 shy t(j be approached within gunshot. 



In England they have Ijeen known to ap])ear as early as August. They 

 are always shy, and not easily api»roached. In their activity and incessant 

 change of jtosition and place, they are said to resemble the Titmice. They 

 feed on the beriies of the mountain-ash, the hawthorn, and the ivy. They will 

 also feed on insects, catching them as dexterously as Flycatchers. Their call- 

 note is a single chiri), frequently rej)eated. 



Mr. McCulloch, writing to Mr. Audul)on, gives a touching account of the 

 deyotion shown by one of these l)irds to its wounded mate. The latter had 

 been so crij)pled that it was hardly able to move. Its mate .stationed itself 

 on the top of the tree in which it had sought shelter, and with great vehe- 

 mence continually uttered the notes tzce-tzcv, in alarm and warning, and, 

 wlien danger ajiproached, flew against it and urged it on to Hight, and 

 stayed to share its fate, rather than leave its partner. 



The nest and eggs of this species remained entirely unknown until tlie 

 spring of 1856, when the late Mr. John WoUey, an enthusiastic FLnglish 

 oidogist, fii-st discovered them in Ljipland. The season was unusually back- 

 \vard and cold, and the ne.sts contained their full complement by the ll^th 

 of June. One of the nests, obtained in Finland, June 19, 1861 (S. I., 5,327), 



