LAND BIRDS. 479 
in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula, some years none appearing, 
while at other times it is fairly abundant. 
Often it comes in small or moderate sized flocks by itself, feeding 
principally on the seeds of the white cedar or arbor-vitx, the larch or 
tamarack and the various pines and spruces, but also when the ground is 
bare, eating the fallen seeds of maple, elm and other trees and devouring 
weed and grass seeds with relish. It associates freely with the winter 
Goldfinches and Redpolls, and not infrequently is seen with the crossbills, 
and eating the same food. It has been reported frequently in spring 
as eating dandelion seeds, and the late Percy Selous observed it at Green- 
ville, Montcalm county, as late as May 25, 1897, feeding on these seeds. 
Peet found it feeding among balsams and tamaracks on Isle Royale, in 
July, 1905 (Mich. Geol. Surv., Rep. 1908, 365), and Blackwelder states that 
in late summer, in Iron county, it was seen in small bands and was especially 
characteristic of cedar swamps (Auk, XXVI, 1909, 368). 
We do not know of the actual finding of a nest within the limits of the 
state, but the University of Michigan expedition found it common in the 
Porcupine Mountains, Ontonagon county, from July 15 to August 14, 
1904, and females were seen to carry nesting material from the camp into 
the woods, while the reproductive organs of the specimens taken showed 
that they were breeding. Dr. W. H. Dunham also writes that it is rather 
common in Kalkaska county and nests in April and early May, but he does 
not seem to have actually found the nest. Mr. O. B. Warren states that 
in Marquette county it is an abundant migrant and breeds. He adds 
“Although the vast majority of those seen in migration do not stop to 
breed, yet the better one becomes acquainted with the bird at Palmer 
the more common is seems in summer” (1898). 
In Wisconsin, according to Kumlien and Hollister, it is not known to 
breed, although Dr. Hoy believed that it nested in the pine regions. The 
nest has been found in other states from about the first of May until July 1. 
A nest was taken at Sing Sing, New York, May 25, 1883, by Dr. A. lx. Fisher. 
The nest is described by Ridgway as a compact structure of pine twigs, 
rootlets, hair, plant fibres, etc., lined with fine rootlets and hair. It is 
placed at moderate heights in evergreen trees. The eggs are three or four, 
pale bluish or greenish, thinly dotted with brown and black, and average 
.62 by .50 inches. 
Even during the summer the birds are usually found in flocks and fly 
with a wheezy, chattering note which is quite characteristic. Dr. Jonathan 
Dwight, Jr. speaks of their song as a ‘“‘soliloquizing gabble interspersed 
with a prolonged wheeze,” and says that their ordinary call-note is much 
like the common note of the English Sparrow. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult (sexes alike): Entire upper parts brown or brownish-gray, streaked thickly with 
blackish; under parts grayish white to almost pure white, streaked with brownish or 
blackish; wings blackish, the primaries narrowly edged with pale yellow on outer margins, 
and both primaries and secondaries largely sulphur-yellow toward the base; tail like the 
wings, largely yellow at base and without any white spots at tip; bill dusky; iris brown. 
Young similar to adults, but wing-coverts usually tipped with deep buff or tan-color. 
Length 4.50 to 5.25 inches; wing 2.75 to 2.90; tail 1.85 to 1.95; culmen .35 to .40. 
