OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 137 



occurring also throughout the lower parts of the state as a fall 

 and winter visitant. Over the lower part of the state they are 

 sometimes rare for an entire season, and again appear in great 

 numbers. After a winter in which they have been plenty, stray 

 birds seem to drop out as the main flight recedes northward, 

 and these may sometimes breed at the lower altitudes. Among 

 the White Mountains, a few are almost always to be found in 

 the lowland valleys, but they seem usually to be crossing from 

 one mountain to another. In the upper Canadian zone above 

 3,000 feet, on the mountains, they are common in the spruce 

 and balsam forests and young fully grown may be found so ear- 

 ly as June 23d, flying about with their parents. At the same 

 time, also, large flocks maybe encountered. Thus on June 15, 

 1902, I came upon a flock of over 40 individuals in the woods on 

 Carter Dome at 4,500 feet, and again during the latter part of 

 June, 1900, numerous flocks up to as many as 50 birds in a sin- 

 gle one, were observed in the vallej- about Intervale, as well as 

 pairs here and there. These flocks were wandering about the 

 lowlands, and may later have broken up in part to breed. It is 

 evident, however, that in this respect, the birds are somewhat 

 irregular. These are restless, active little creatures, and when 

 observed among the mountains are usually in flight overhead. 

 I have rarely failed , on trips over the main ranges of the White 

 Mountains, to hear a few single ones or an occasional pair, and 

 to observe them passing swiftl}^ bj' from one range of mountains 

 to another, or dropping down into the forests below. Prof. Ed- 

 win B. Frost writes me that at Hanover, he and his brother 

 found three or four nests in two different years, with eggs about 

 the middle of April. Mr. C. F. Goodhue also observ^ed a pair 

 building a nest in a large pine at Webster during the last of 

 April, 1900, but they later deserted it. 



170. Passerina nivalis (Linn.). Snowflake. 



A rather common spring and fall migrant and winter visitant 

 throughout the open lands of the state, but of more regular oc- 

 currence on the coast than inland. Mr. C. J. Maynard ('72) 

 records that they appeared in Coos County in the latter part of 

 October, 1869, and occasional individuals are known to appear 



