PASSERES FRINGILLHXE. 141 



new year opens. It could hardly be called common, in the 

 usual acceptance of that term, at any time, because the birds 

 band themselves together in greater or lesser flocks and are 

 not found in any other fashion. The flocks range over con- 

 siderable territory, appearing and reappearing at any one 

 place but few times during the winter. The flocks may 

 range from a few to several hundred individuals. Rarely 

 single birds may be found with the flocks of Horned Larks 

 or Lapland Longspurs. The species is less and less numer- 

 ous as one proceeds southward from the lake shore, becom L 

 ing only occasional in southern Ohio, in exceptional 

 weather. 



Feeding wholly on the ground, Snowflake picks up such 

 seeds as may have been dropped or missed by the other spar- 

 rows. When the ground is completely covered with snow 

 they are driven to feed upon the standing weed tops which 

 project above the snow. A favorite feeding-place is a rail- 

 road track, where grains of wheat and oats sift through 

 the cars and afford easy picking. 



The Snowflakes are strictly winter birds, seldom appear- 

 ing before the country is well snow-bound, or they drive 

 down just in front of a blizzard to give fair warning. They 

 are gone before April, usually not long after the first of 

 March. 



195. (536.) CALCARIUS LAPPONICUS (Linn.). 93. 

 Lapland Longspur. 



Synonyms: Plectrophanes lapponicus, Centrophanes lapponi- 



cus, Fringilla lapponica. 

 Wheaton, Ohio Agri. Report, 1860, 366. 



Dr. Wheaton's statements regarding this winter species 

 still hold good for practically all of the state, except that I 

 would not term it common at any time. "The first to ap- 

 pear are single birds, in company with Shore Larks. Aft- 

 erward they may be seen in compact flocks of from ten to 

 thirty, frequenting old brick-yards, and fields where cattle 

 are fed, in company with Shore Larks, with which they as- 

 sociate on the ground, but fly by themselves in close iflocks. 



