86 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



four outer ones on each side, nearly all white; sides, thighs, 

 and vent pale yellow ochre, streaked with black; upper 

 mandible brown, lower bluish white; eyelids furnished with 

 strong black hairs; legs and feet very large, and of a pale 

 flesh colour. 



The female has the black crescent more skirted with 

 grey, and not of so deep a black. In the rest of her mark- 

 ings, the plumage differs little from that of the male. I 

 must here take notice of a mistake committed by Mr. Ed- 

 wards, in his History of Birds, Vol. VI. p. 133, where, 

 on the authority of a bird dealer of London, he describes 

 the Calandre Lark (a native of Italy and Russia), as belong- 

 ing also to North America, and having been brought from 

 Carolina. I can say with confidence, that in all my excur- 

 sions through that and the rest of the Southern States, I 

 never met such a bird, nor any person who had ever seen 

 it. I have no hesitation in believing that the Calandre is 

 not a native of the United States. 



SNOW-BIRD. 



FRINGILLA HUDSONM. 



[Plate VIIL] 



Fringilla Hudsonia, Turton, Syst. i. 56S. — Emberiza 

 hyemaUs, Id. 53L — Lath. i. 66. — Catesbv, i. 36. — 

 Jlrct. Zool. p. 359, No. 223. — Passer nivalis, Bar- 

 tram, p. 291. — Fringilla hyemaHs, Linn. «S'^*/. Ed. 

 10, I. p. 183, 30. — J. Doughty's Collection. 



This well-known species, small and insignificant as it 

 may appear, is bj^ far the most numerous, as well as the 

 most extensively disseminated, of all the feathered tribes 

 that visit us from the frozen regions of the north. Tlieir 

 migrations extending from the arctic circle, and probably 

 beyond it, to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, spreading 

 over the whole breadtli of the LTnited States, from the 

 Atlantic Ocean to Louisiana; how much farther vvestward 

 I am unable to say. About the twentieth of October, they 

 make their first appearance in tliose parts of Pennsylvania 

 east of the Alleghany mountains. At first they are most 

 generally seen on the borders of woods, among the falling 

 and decayed leaves, in loose flocks of thirty or forty toge- 

 ther, alwaj's taking to the trees when disturbed. As the 

 weather sets in colder, tliey approach nearer the farm-house 

 and villages; and, on the appearance of wliat is usually 

 called yj/ ///;;"• weather, assemble in larger flocks, and seem 

 doubly diligent in searching for food. This increased acti- 

 vity is generally a sure prognostic of a storm. When deep 

 snow covers the ground, they become almost half domesti- 



cated. They collect about the barn, stables, and other 

 out-houses, spread over the yard, and even round the steps 

 of the door; not only in the country and villages, but in 

 the heart of our large cities; crowding around the threshold 

 early in the morning, gleaning up the crumbs; appearing 

 very lively and familiar. They have also recourse, at 

 at this severe season, when the face of the earth is shut up 

 from them, to the S'jeds of many kinds of weeds, that still 

 rise above the show, in corners of fields, and low shel- 

 tered situations, along the borders of creeks and fences, 

 where they associate with several species of Sparrows. 

 They are, at this time, easily caught with almost any kind 

 of traps; are generally fat, and, it is said, are excellent 

 eating. 



I cannot but consider this bird as the most numerous of 

 its tribe of any within the United States. From the north- 

 ern parts of the district of Maine, to the Ogechee river in 

 Georgia, a distance, by the circuitous route in which I tra- 

 velled, of more than 1800 miles, I never passed a day> and 

 scarcely a mile, without seeing numbers of these birds, and 

 frequently large flocks of several thousands. Other tra- 

 vellers, with whom I conversed, who had come from 

 Lexington, in Kentucky, through Virginia, also declared 

 that they found these birds numerous along the whole road. 

 It should be observed, that the road sides are their favour- 

 ite haunts, where many rank weeds that grow along the 

 fences, furnish them with food, and the road with gravel. 

 In the vicinity of places where they were most numerous, 

 I observed the small Hawk, (Falco sparverius) and seve- 

 ral others of his tribe, watching their opportunity, or 

 hovering cautiously around, making an occasional sweep 

 among them, and retiring to the bare branches of an old 

 cypress, to feed on their victim. In the month of April, 

 when the weather begins to be warm, they are observed to 

 retreat to the woods; and to prefer the shaded sides of 

 hills and thickets; at which time the males warble out a 

 iew very low sweet notes; and are almost perpetually pur- 

 suing and fighting with each other. About the twentieth 

 of April they take their leave of our humble regions, and 

 retire to the north, and to the high ranges of the Alleghany, 

 to build their nests, and rear their young. In some of those 

 ranges, in the interior of Virginia, and northward, about 

 the waters of the west branch of the Susquehanna, they 

 breed in great numbers. The nest is fixed in the ground, 

 or among the grass, sometimes several being within a small 

 distance of each other. According to the observations of 

 the gentlemen residing at Hudson's bay factory, they arrive 

 there about the beginning of June, stay a week or two, 

 and proceed farther north to breed. They return to that 

 settlement in the autumn on their way to the south. 



In some parts of New England I found the opinion 



