264 FRINGILLID^E : FINCHES. 



Though a near relative of the familiar Chippy, the 

 Tree Sparrow appears in New England under the very 

 opposite conditions, being a northerly bird scarcely 

 known among us except as a migrant and winter vis- 

 itant, like some of the other boreal Fringillidcz we 

 have already noticed. It is given in Mr. Allen's faunal 

 lists as a species limited, like Junco hiemalis, in the 

 breeding season by the Canadian Fauna, and there- 

 fore should be found nesting in Northern New Eng- 

 land. But its true summer home is the Hudsonian 

 Fauna, and I am unable to cite any instance of its 

 breeding within our limits. It is one of the most abun- 

 dant birds of winter, and also one which makes its 

 appearance most regularly. Entering the Canadian 

 Fauna in the fall, the Tree Sparrow becomes gen- 

 erally distributed by the latter part of October, and 

 continues in numbers until late in April. It is usually 

 found in shrubbery, flocking with numbers of its own 

 kind, but scarcely associating with other species, unless 

 it is the Snow-bird. The following picture of a winter 

 scene in Dakota, with these brave little Sparrows in 

 the foreground, will give an idea of their habits at 

 that season ; it is from Dr. Coues's " Birds of the 

 Northwest," p. 147 : 



"At Fort Randall I found these birds as abundant 

 as I have ever seen them anywhere, during pleasant 

 weather in the month of October. All the under- 

 growth of the river-bottom was full of them, in troops 

 sometimes numbering hundreds, singing as gaily, it 

 seemed to me, as in spring-time. With the colder 

 weather of the following month, so many moved oft' 

 that I thought none would remain to endure the rigor 

 of winter, but such proved to be not the case. The 



