SNOWFLAKE AND CROSSBILL. 147 
With the Tree Sparrows and Juncos, Redpolls feed on 
the seeds of plants left uncovered by the snow, and they 
also include birch buds in their fare. 
None of our winter birds better illustrate the flock- 
ing habit than the Snowflakes, Snow Buntings, or, as they 
are also called, White Snowbirds. With 
Plectrophenax nivalis, & uniformity of movement which would 
Piste 1. put to shame the evolutions of the best- 
drilled troops, they whirl over the snow-clad fields, wheel- 
ing to right or left, as though governed by a single 
impulse. Suddenly they swing downward into a weedy 
field, alighting on the snuw or ground, where they xwn— 
not hop about—like little beach birds. Sometimes, it is 
said, they sing on the wing while with us, but their usual 
note is a low chirp. They are terrestrial birds, and, al- 
though they may often perch on fences or buildings, are 
rarely seen in trees. 
Snowflakes nest within the Arctic Circle, and, like 
other of our winter birds that come from the far North, 
are irregular in their movements. As a rule they do not 
wander much south of Long Island and northern Illinois, 
but occasionally they go as far as Virginia and Kansas, 
and are thus among the possibilities which add so much 
to the pleasure of winter days in the field. 
The Crossbill is a possibility at any season. None of 
our birds is more erratic in its migrations. As a rule, it 
Aree is found in the Middle States only be- 
Reels tevehuuiie tween November and March, but I 
minor. have seen it in Central Park, New . 
Piste TI. York city, as late as May. In the 
higher parts of the Alleghanies and in northern New 
England it is resident throughout the year. Crossbills 
usually wander as far south each winter as Connecticut, 
but beyond this are of irregular occurrence. 
They feed almost entirely upon the seeds of pines, and 
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