FRINGILLID.E — THE FINCHES. 



03 



the wlK)le flock would g«) off together, uttering a low and melodious whistle. 

 In May and June several were still about near Howard's llaneho, and on his 

 return from Houston, in June, he succeeded in shcoting one in its full sum- 

 mer plumage, when its specific name is peculiarly approi)riate. He does not, 

 however, think that, as a general tiling, any of them remain about San An- 

 tonio to breed. 



They breed in great numbers on the plains of Wyoming Territory, an<l 

 probably also in Colorado, Montana, and Dakota. The Smithsonian collec- 

 tion emlmices s|)ecimens obtained in July from the Yellowstone, from Tlatte 

 Itiver, Pole Creek, the lilack Hills, and Bridger's Pass, indicating that thvy 

 breed in the^e localities ; also specimens from Texas, New Mexico, Sonora, 

 and Espia, in Mexico, but none from California. 



Dr. Kennerly, who met w'th these birds both in Sonora and at Espia, on 

 the ^ilexican Boundary Survey, states diat he observed them in the valley 

 of the river early in the morning, in very large flocks. During the greater 

 part of the day they feed on the hills among the bushes. When on the wing 

 they keep very close together, so that a single discharge of shot would some- 

 times bring down twenty or thirty. Mr. J. H. Clark, on the same survey, 

 also states that he sometimes found them occurring in flocks of hundreds. 

 The greatest numbers were seen near Presidio del Xorte. Great varieties of 

 plumage were observed in the same flock. Tiie food seemed to be seeds 

 almost exclusively. They were very simultaneous in all their movements. 

 Stra"« lers were never observed remaining behind after the flock liad started. 

 They are, he states, the most absolutely gregarious birds he has ever met 



with. 



Dr. Cones, wlio regarded this bird as one highly characteristic of the prai- 

 rie fauna, writes me that he met with it in great nund)ers in Kansas, soon 

 after leaving Fort Piley, and saw it every day until he reached the Eaton 

 ^lountains in Xew Mexico. " For two or three days, in fact, from I^ort 

 Larned to the mountains," he writes, "I scarcely saw anything else. This 

 was the first week in June, and most of the birds seemed to be paired an^' 

 nesting, though occasionally a dozen or more were seen together, iiock' 

 like the Blackbirds that they strongly recall. They were in full song iid 

 proved deliglitful vocalists. Sometimes they warble from some spray r low 

 bush offering a stand a little above the level flower-beds of the prai: . \ but 

 oftener they mount straight up, hovering high in the air on tremulous wings, 

 pcniring forth their melodious strains until, seemingly exhausted, they sink 

 liack to the ground. At such times it is interesting to watch two rival males, 

 each straining everv nerve to mount hi*;her than the other, and sing more 

 acceptably to its mate hidden in the verdure below. This liabit of rising on 

 the wing to sing, so famed in tlie case of the Skvlark, seems not confined to 

 l)articular species, but to be a forced practice of a number of different birds 

 residing in open level regions, that do not afford the elevated i)erches usually 

 chosen by woodland songsters for their performances. The ordinary flight 



