506 NORTH AMKIIICAN lUIU)!^. 



viulii. Tlio flock WHS llittiiij,' loslk'ssly over tlie snow in tlio niunnor of tlio 

 J'fir/riiphinifs. 



Nothing lias Itet'ti nsrcr'ainiitl.Ro far as wonre now inlbrnjod.as to its nest, 

 eggs, or gciu'ial distiihution (lining the breiiding-season. 



Mr. .1. K. Lord states that he met with a flock of these rare and l)eantiful 

 birds on the siunniit of tlie Cascade Mountains. It was late in October, and 

 he observed a flock of nine or ten birds pecking along the ground, and feed- 

 ing somewhat in the manner of Larks. Puzzled to know what birds they 

 could be at such an altitiule so late in the year, ho fired among them and 

 secured three, a female and two males in fine plumage. (I'erhaiw var. littor- 

 al is.) 



In July of the following summer, on the summit of the Kocky Mountains, 

 near the Kootaiiie Pass, he again saw these birds feeding on the ground. He 

 shot several, but they were all young birds of the year. It is therefore ren- 

 dered probable that these P'inclies breed on the Cascade and Ilocky Moun- 

 tains, in both at about the same altitude, or seven thousand feet, coming 

 into the lowlands during the winter, as it is not likely that they could endure 

 the cold of tiie summits, or find there a sufticiency of food, the winter being 

 very severe, and the snow three feet or more in depth. 



^[r. Charles N. Ilolden, a promising young ornithologist of Chicago, who 

 observed these birds among the Black Hills, near Sherman, at an altitude 

 of eight thousand feet above the sea, has furnished me with interesting 

 observations in regard to them. He informs me tliat he did not meet with 

 these birds there in summer. They came in small flocks in the coldest part 

 of winter. Their food consisted of small seeds and insects. In some in- 

 stances he found the crops so distended with seeds as to distort their shape. 

 They l>ecome very fat, and are excellent eating. In one si)t!cimen, a young 

 male, the plumage was almost black, as described at the beginning of this 

 article. These liirds were quite numerous, and nearly forty specimens were 

 secured. Ho was not able to learn anything in reference to their breeding- 

 ]>laces. Except by dissection, he found it difficult to distinguish between a 

 young male of the first year and a female. 



If the .specimen referred to in the foot-note at the beginning of this arti- 

 cle as collected by Mr. Allen on Mount Lincoln be really this si)ecip.s, an im- 

 ])ortant advance in its history will have been reached, showing tliat their 

 summers are si)ent in the high mountain summits, and that the rest of the 

 year is passed low(U' down on the plains. 



