506 NOKTII AMKIllCAN niitl'^ 



Mula. Tlu! flock wiis Hitting restlessly over the snow lu the manner of tho 



Nothing has l)een asiiutained, so far us we are now informed, as to its nest, 

 eggs, or general ilistri lint ion during the breeding-season. 



Mr. J. K. L(»rd statt's tha* he met with a floik of these rare and Iwautiful 

 birds on the sunnnit of tiie Cjiscade Mountains. It was late in Octoljer, and 

 he observed a tlock of nine or ten l)irds jxjcking along the ground, and feed- 

 ing somewhat in tlie manner of Lirks. Puzzled to know what birds they 

 could be at suili an altitude so late in the year, he fired among tliem and 

 secured three, a female and two niules in fine plumage. (I'erluqw var. littor- 

 al u.) 



In July of the foUowing summer, on the sunnnit of the IJocky Mountains, 

 near the Kootanie Pass, he again saw these birds feeding on the ground. He 

 shot sev(Tal, l)Ut they were all young birds of the year. It is therefore ren- 

 dered probable that these Finches breed on the Cascade and llocky Moun- 

 tains, in both at aUmt the same altitude, or seven thousand feet, coming 

 into tlie lowlands during the winter, as it is not likely that they could endure 

 the cold of the summits, or find there a sutticiency of food, the winter being 

 very severe, and tin? snow three feet or more in depth. 



^Ir. Charles X. Holden, a promising young ornithologist of Chicago, who 

 observed these birds among the Black Hills, near Sherman, at an altitude 

 of eight thousand feet above the sea, has furnished me with interesting 

 observations in regard to them. He informs me that he did not meet with 

 these birds there in summer. They came in small flocks in the coldest part 

 of winter. Their food consisted! of small seeds and insects In some in- 

 stances he found the crops so distended with seeds as to distort their shape. 

 They become very fat, and are excellent eating. In one specimen, a young 

 male, the plumage was almost black, as described at the beginning of this 

 article. These birds were quite numerous, and nearly forty specimens were 

 secured. He was not able to learn anything in reference to their breeding- 

 l)laces. Except by dissection, he found it ditficult to distinguish between a 

 young male of tlie first year and a female. 



If the specimen referred to in the foot-note at the beginning of this arti- 

 cle as collected by Mr. Allen on Mount Lincoln be really this species, an im- 

 ])ortant advance in its history will have been reached, showing tliat their 

 summers are spent in the high mountain summits, and that the rest of the 

 year is passed lowcir down on the plains. 



