BIRDS. 175 



ble position from tlic twi^s on the tops of the cotton-woods or birch trees, where the birds are 

 busily engaged in feeding upon the buds. They pay no heed to a passing party of sleds except, 

 perhaps, that an individual will fly down to some convenient bush, whence he curiously examines 

 the strange procession, and, his curiosity satisfied or confidence restored, back he goes to his com- 

 panions and continues his feeding. When fired at they utter chirps of alarm and call to each 

 other with a long, sweet note, something similar to that of the ordinary Goldfinch {Spinus trisiifi). 

 They keep up a constant cheeping repetition of this note when feeding in parties, and if one of their 

 number is shot the others approach closer and closer to the hunter, and gaze with mingled curi- 

 osity and sympathy upon their fluttering tompauion. 



It winters through its range within the tree-limit and was found in the Hudson's Bay country 

 up to the twenty-eighth parallel of north latitude by Eichardsou, and thei-e are several records of 

 its occurrence in South Greenland. Dall states that they are not found about Nulato during the 

 summer; but, from their retiiing habits during this season, they were undoubtedly overlooked, 

 since they surely breed throughout the timbered portions of the northern part of Alaska. On 

 the coast of Bering Sea and Kotzebue Sound it is found merely as a very rare straggler, mainly 

 during the autumn and spring, at which times occasional wandering parties or solitary birds occur. 



Eeinhardt records five Greenland examples of this bird, and one of its peculiarities is its appa- 

 rent fondness for ranging to the eastward over the Atlantic. 



Kunilien took a young bird on board the Florence, August 15, 1877, in the bay of jSTewfound- 

 land. In the List of Occurrence of North American Birds in Europe,* Dalgleish gives seven in- 

 stances, which he appears to consider authentic, of this bird's occurrence in Great Britain, all be- 

 tween 1838 and 1870. He quotes Gray as authority for the statement that the late Dr. Dewin, of 

 Glasgow, when crossing the Atlantic some years ago, saw a flock of these biids COO miles oft' New- 

 foundland, flying east before a westerly wind, and ten or twelve of the birds were captured. He 

 adds, however, that the numerous Swedish records of nearly a dozen instances are not authenti- 

 cated. It appears to be limited mainly to the eastern portion of Korth America, reaching the west 

 coast in Alaska north of the Alaskan Mountains, but in the Western United States it very rarely 

 reaches the Eockj^ Mountains. 



In its variations of plumage there are a number of interesting special phases found in the col- 

 lection. In finely-plumaged birds an irregular black band across the back unites the scapulars, aiui 

 the red bars range from dingy to a clear bright rose-color, approaching carmine in some specimens. 

 One bird from Fort Yukon, Februaiy 10, 1876, has a rich blending of safi"ron yellow and rose- 

 tipped feathers over the entire body, the colors becoming especially rich upon the throat, breast, 

 and rump, the yellow of these parts becoming a rich lemon. An adult, taken May 13, 1870, has the 

 edges of the feathers worn so that the greenish-yellow shade is partly obsolete, and the dark shaft- 

 markings of the feathers are thus brought out and rendered prominent. One adult, a male 

 s])ecimen from the Northwestern United States, is dull scarlet, with a slight metallic luster in cer- 

 tain lights A full grown young male from Fort Yukon, April 29, 1877, has the feathers above 

 and below with broad, dark, longitudinal shaft-streaks of blackish-brown. On the crown and 

 middle of the back the dark shaft-streaks are heavier than on the rest of the body. The feathers on 

 the crown, neck, and throat are edged with grayish-white. Those of the back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts are edged with a dingy fulvous ; breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts with a pale yellow- 

 ish gray edging. The white markings of wings are shaded with yellowish. WMng and tail feathers 

 edged with grayish white. Bill and feet pale. Another young bird, taken by Kumlien on the 

 Florence, as before mentioned, is older than the one just described, and shows the effect of wearing. 

 It is very dark and almost black above, being almost uniform blackish brown on the neck, crown, 

 and back, with ashy-gray edgings. Kump lighter, owing to the broader yellowish-white edging 

 to leathers. Below, the feathers are marked uniformly with sharp narrow shaft-markings, with 

 ashy-gray edgings. The bill is larger and longer than in the young Alaskan specimen. The wiiig- 

 bars are pure white and there is no trace of yellowish shading except on the rump. In Bonaparte 

 and Schlegel's Mon des Laxiens is recorded and figured a specimen from the Himalayas said to 

 belong to this species, but it shows certain differences which woidd indicate, in addition to the 

 extreme extraliuiital range, that this bird shoidd be referred rather to some Himalayan species. 



" Bull. N. O. C. 



