FUIN(iH,Lri).K- THE FINCIIKS. 517 



the birds wun; stiiitetl up liy liiiiidrutls un t^very walk over llio isliiiid. Krom 

 this he inters tluil they iiiiist lie very curetully coneeided. lie (tlleii searehed 

 i'or Uu!in, lull always with llie same result. Mr. iSaiiiiisler regarded thi.s 

 speeies as deeidi'dly tla^ best songster of ' s t'aiiiily. 



In tiie far Xurlli it is an extremely al)undanl spcHnes t'rum one iMcan to 

 the other, in the winter mo\ing t'artlier south, to the United States, in Lirge 

 tloeks. It has not been I'ouuil in ('alit'orniii, iuit in the eentral and eastern 

 regions has been obtained as I'ar soutii as lA'avenwortii, Kan., Kaeine, Wis., 

 Hoston, and New York. It is stated Ity dillerent oii.servers, that, like the 

 Lark, it sings only while in motion in the air, or while .suspended, and that 

 its notes are agreeable an<l melodious. 



According to liichardson, tliey breed in moist meadows on the shores of 

 the Arctic Sea, the nest being placed in a small hillock, among mo.ss and 

 stones. It is comjiosed externally of <lry .stems of grass, interwoven to a 

 consideriible thickness, and lined very neatly and com|ia('tly with deer's hair. 

 The eggs, seven in nuinl)er, he de.scrilies as i)ale oclire-yellow, spotted with 

 brown. .Sir James l!o.ss found them liy no means numerous in the higher 

 northern latitudes, and obtained one nest, containing five egg.s, in -luly. 



According to Ilolbiill, this bird is connnon ah)ng the shores of lM)tli Xorth 

 and South (Jreenlaial. They reach (iodliaab in tlie beginning of May, and 

 Godhaven a month later. Their migrations do not take jilaee all at once, 

 but they are constantly arriving during the month. It remains in South 

 Greenland until the beginning of Septend)er, and longer if the dee]) snows 

 do not tlrive it away. This bird is never met on slii])lKiard until the vessels 

 are in Davis Strait, ])roving that their migrations nmst be from America. 

 The Greenlanders call it Narksamatak (inhaliitant of the ]ilainsj, — an aj)- 

 ju'ojn'iate name, as it only lives on tlie lowlands near the ,sea-sliore, where it 

 buihls its nest in the manni'r of the Lark, in the grass, or among the lidu'ns. 

 Its live eggs, of a dirty olive-color spotted with brown, are smaller than those 

 of P. iiiralis. The song of the male bird, as it hovers in the air or rocks on 

 a swaying twig, is very clear and meh dious. It is even known as the l!reen- 

 land Nightingah^ Its food is seeds, and it is not known to seek insect- 

 larva; on the houses of the Greenlanders, as does tlie /'. iiini/is. In their 

 winter dress they all res(>mble the femide in her summer i)lumage, only in 

 the male some black is seen in the head-feathers. 



Fabricius descril)es its eggs as five or si.x in lunnber, of a reddisli-gray 

 with brownish spots. Degland describes their ground-coliu' as an asliy-gray, 

 eov(!red with spots of light brown, with lines and spots of deep brown, and 

 also of clear black. 



Kggs from Anilerson IJiver exhibit great variations in their a]>i)earance, 

 more from the diU'erence in the distribution of their s])ots than from varia- 

 tions in colors. Where distinctly visilile, the ground-color appears to be of 

 yellowish-gray, frequently .so thickly spotted as not to be recogni/alile. The 

 blotches are of various shades of Ijrown, with .shadings of olive, ])ur[)le, or 



