296 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



in places where food was not over abundant, but never noticed a 

 quarrel among them, all being willing to share alike. 



Very many of the individuals which visit us are females, or young 

 males, clad in a uniform of smoky-gray, more or less tinged with 

 greenish-yellow, but in every flock of twenty or thirty there are two 

 or three adult males in the showy crimson dress, which, when seen 

 with a background of the sombre foliage of the Norway spruce, forms 

 a most attractive object at this season of the year when the tide of 

 bird-life is at its lowest ebb. 



Our knowledge of the breeding habits of this species is as yet 

 very imperfect, the description given of the nest and eggs being 

 that of a supposed Grosbeak's nest which was found in Maine by 

 Mr. Boardman, but the birds to which the nest belonged were not 

 secured. 



Mr. Trippe found them in Colorado in summer, living up near the 

 timber line, and observed young birds fully feathered and shifting 

 for themselves in June, which gives the impression that they must 

 breed very early. I think it highly probable that they may yet be 

 found breeding in Northern Ontario, for on the occasions already 

 referred to they appeared early in January, and remained as late 

 as April, so that they would not have time to travel far before 

 engaging in their domestic duties. 



They are reported as common winter visitors in Manitoba, while 

 in Alaska Mr. Nelson says that "along the entire west and north- 

 west coast of America, from Vancouver Island north to within the 

 Arctic circle, these birds occur in greater or less abundance. I have 

 frequently passed a pleasant half-hour on the wintry banks of the 

 Yukon while making a mid-day halt and waiting for the natives to 

 melt the snow for our tea, listening to the chirping and fluttering 

 of these birds as they came trooping along the snow-laden woods in 

 small parties. They withstand the severest cold in these forests, 

 even within the Arctic circle, and appear to be about equally 

 distributed throughout the wooded region." 



