SNOW BIRD. 73 



main only for a few minutes, after which they return to their avocations. 

 They are particularly fond of grass-seeds, to procure which they often 

 leap up from the ground, and dexterously seize the bending panicles. 



It is a true hopping bird, and performs its little leaps without the 

 least appearance of moving either feet or legs, in which circumstance it 

 resembles the Sparrows. Another of its habits, also indicative of affinity 

 to these birds, is it resorting at night, during cold weather, to stacks of 

 corn or hay, in which it forms a hole that affiards a snug retreat during 

 the continuance of such weather, or its recurrence through the winter. 

 In fine weather, however, it prefers the evergreen foliage of the holly, the 

 cedar or low pines, among which to roost. Its flight is easy, and as 

 spring approaches, and its passions become excited by the increased tem- 

 perature, the males chase each other on wing, when their tails being fully 

 expanded, the white and black colours displayed in them present a quite 

 remarkable contrast. 



The migration of these birds is performed by night, as they are seen 

 in a district one day, and have disappeared the next. Early in March, 

 the Snow Bird is scarcely to be seen in Louisiana, but may be followed, 

 as the season advances, retreating towards the mountains of the middle 

 districts, where many remain during the summer and breed. Although I 

 have never had the good fortune to find any of their nests, yet I have 

 seen them rear their young in such places, and particularly in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Great Pine Forest, where many persons told me they 

 had often seen their nests. 



During the period when the huckleberries are ripe, they feed partially 

 upon them, being found chiefly on the poorest mountain lands, in which 

 that shrub grows most abundantly. I have seen the Snow Birds far up 

 the Arkansas, and in the province of Maine, as well as on our Upper 

 Lakes. I have been told of their congregating so as to form large flocks 

 of a thousand individuals, but have never seen so many together. Their 

 flesh is extremely delicate and juicy, and on this account small strings of 

 them are frequently seen in the New Orleans market, during the short 

 period of their sojourn in that district. Towards the spring, the males 

 have a tolerably agreeable song. 



The twig on which you see them is one of the Tupelo, a tree of great 

 magnitude, growing in the low grounds of the state of Louisiana, and on 

 one of which I happened to shoot the pair represented in the plate. 



