BIRDS or INDIANA. 931 



stubble, on bottom land of Big Walnut Creek, Putnam County. Two 

 were taken at Bloomington, February 2, 1883 (Evermann). There 

 is a pair in the State Museum at Indianapolis from Boone County. 

 Mr. Balmer reports it as a winter resident in Knox County, and Mr. 

 Eobert Eidgway has noted large flocks at Mt. Carmel, 111., during 

 severe weather. Mr. E. E. Quick identified it in Franklin County, 

 March 1, 1897, and Mr. V. II. Barnett .observed it in Brown County, 

 January 29 and 30, and February 13, 1897. 



Mr. B. T. Gault, Glen Ellyn, 111., says: "June 14, 1889, I took an 

 adult female, in breeding plumage, at Sheffield, Lake County, Ind. 

 When first seen it was flushed from the side of a wagon road, near Lake 

 Michigan, and, taking wing, flew ahead of me but a few feet above the 

 ground. It seemed rather tame, and the probabilities are that it may 

 have been crippled earlier in the season, thus accounting for its late 

 sojourn in this latitude; but, judging from its appearance when 

 skinned, it must have recovered entirely from the effect of wounds 

 previously received (The Auk, Vol. VI., No. 3, p. 278). 



While with us its food is wholly the seeds of weeds and grasses. Of 

 six examined by Prof. King, each had eaten more than one hundred 

 seeds of pigeon grass and black bind-weed (Geol. Wis., I., p. 536). 



It is common in northern Europe and northern Asia, also breeding 

 in the Arctic portions of those continents, as it does in North America. 

 Mr. E. W. Nelson found it breeding . abundantly on the grassy flats 

 near St. Michael's, Alaska. They arrive there early in May, while the 

 ground is still largely covered with snow, and by the middle of that 

 month are common. "The males, as if conscious of their handsome 

 plumage, choose the tops of the only breaks in the monotonous level, 

 which are small, rounded knolls and tussocks. The male utters its 

 song as it flies upward from one of these knolls, and when it reaches 

 the height of ten or fifteen yards, it extends the points of its wings 

 upwards, forming a large V-shaped figure, and floats gently to the 

 ground, uttering, as it slowly sinks, its liquid tones, which fall in 

 tinkling succession upon the ear, and are, perhaps, the sweetest notes 

 that one hears during the entire spring-time of these regions. It is 

 an exquisite jingling melody, having much less power than that of the 

 Bobolink, but with the same general character, and, though shorter, 

 it has even more melody than the song of that well known bird. The 

 nests are placed on the drier portions of the flats; a hummock or tuft 

 of grass is chosen, or perhaps a projecting bunch of dwarf willow 

 stems, and, as one comes directly upon it, the female usually flutters 

 off under one's feet." (N. H. Coll., in Alaska, pp. 184, 185). 



