AMrKLII),K-TIIK CIIATTKIIKUS. 3()() 



I^nss spenks nl' tliciii as not nirc tliioii^liuiit tlic distrirt m wliicli tlicy 

 winter, lull ynt not iiiiiiu'nuis. He lulds tluit at (livat IVar Lake tlicy avo 

 very iiliaitilul, and iliat they aru it'|)(iitL'il to lu'st tlicrc. Mr. I (all states 

 tliat they wero (iiiite eoiiinidii at Niilato, wlioru tliuy tlid not arrive lu'lore 

 .fuiu! Id, or later. Ho olitaiia-d a niindier of skins I'roni the Indians, taken 

 in ids al)senee. He adds thai it brouds, and its eggs have been obtained at 

 Fort Yukon. 



Except in ii few instances, wliere Dr. Cooper noticed this sjK'cies, in 

 Septendier, at Fort Jjirande, and also when he obtained an individual mi 

 the (Njlorado, none of these birds have been seen west of tlie liocky Moun- 

 tains. The liird obtained l)y Dr. Cooper was, in iiis ojiinion, a straj,'j;ler from 

 some neij^hborinj^ uatuntain. It made its ap))earance January Id, altera 

 period of stormy weather, and was shot while fee'inj,' on the berries of the 

 nustletoe. 



This bird was tii-st noticed in America, in the spring,' of IHlid, near tlie 

 sources of the Athaliasca Jiiver, by Mr. J)rumniond, and in the same season 

 by Sir John Itichardson, at (Jreat liear Lake, latitude O'l". In the latter 

 rej,'ion he states that they ap])eared in flocks about the li4th of ^lay. At 

 that time the sjning tliaw had exposed the berries of the A i but im and the 

 Vncciniiiin, that liad been covered during the winter. It stayed only a few 

 days, and none of the hulians knew where it l)red, or had ever seen its nest. 

 Afterwards, early in May, 1827, Sir John Itichardson saw a large Ihjok of three 

 or four huntlred individuals at Cailton House, on the Saskatchewan. They 

 all alighted in a grove of poplars, on one or two trees, making a loud twit- 

 tering noi.se. They stayed only about an hour in the morning, and were too 

 shy to be approached within gunshot. 



In England they have been known to ap])ear as early as August. They 

 are always shy, and not easily apiiroached. In their activity and incessant 

 change of ])osilion and place, they are said to resemble the Titmice. They 

 feed on the berries of the mountain-ash, the hawthorn, and the ivy. They will 

 also feed on insects, catching them as dexterously as Flycatchers. Their call- 

 note is a single chirp, frequently re])eated. 



Mr. McCulloch, writing to i'.r. Audubon, gives a touching account of the 

 devotion shown' by one of these birds to its wounded mate. The latter had 

 been so crippled that it was ha'.dly able to nu)ve. Its mate stationed itseli 

 on the top of the tree in which it had sought shelter, and Avith great vehe- 

 mence continually uttered the notes tzcr-tzM, in alarm and warning, and, 

 when danger ai)proached, flew against it and urged it on to flight, and 

 stayed to share its fate, rather than leave its partner. 



The nest and eggs of this species remained entirely unknown until the 

 spring of ISoO, when the late Mr. John WoUey, an enthusiastic English 

 oologist, first discovered them in Lapland. The season was unusually back- 

 ward and cold, and the nests contained their full complement by the 1 2th 

 of June. One of the nests, obtained in Finland, June li), 1861 (S, I„ 5,327), 



