LAND BIRDS. 693 
Distribution.—Kastern United States to the Plains, north to southern 
New Jersey and southern Iowa; casual in southern New Ingland. Resident 
throughout its breeding range. 
This interesting bird is confined to the southern part of the Lower 
Peninsula and appears to be nowhere common even there. By far the 
greater number of reports are 
of winter specimens, and some 
observers contend that the bird 
is a migrant and occurs only in 
spring and fall, while the great 
majority of observers have failed 
to find the species at all. Con- 
sidering all the facts that we have 
been able to gather there would 
seem to be no reason to suppose 
that the bird migrates, but rather 
that it occurs here and _ there, 
singly or in pairs, and is resident 
wherever found, but that it is very 
irregularly distributed and by no 
means always to be found in the 
same place. 
Mr. Trombley of Petersburg has iS, Was: ica we o en ih oF 
Ppa A rig. : = AT 
found it in different seasons from “* mounted specimen. (Original) 
February 25 through the whole of 
March and April and a large part of May. He also states that he found 
it nesting at Petersburg in one instance. About Detroit Mr. Swales 
has found it only in certain sections, as on Belle Isle in the Detroit River. 
He says: “TI firmly believe that the species breeds in limited numbers 
on the Island, although I personally have not observed the bird there 
later than the middle of May. June 24, 1905 Mr. Taverner heard one 
whistling in a woods just north of Detroit, and on August 6 we heard the 
bird in the same place and it was secured; another was seen August 27. 
This pair without doubt bred in this locality.” Dr. Atkins recorded it 
but twice at Locke, a pair April 30, 1871, and a single specimen April 12, 
1881. Jason E. Nichols of Lansing, has a specimen in his collection taken 
in that vicinity, and the species has been observed repeatedly about the 
Agricultural College, but not in any numbers. It is most often seen 
during winter when occasionally one or two may be found with a troup 
of Chickadees, Nuthatches and Kinglets as they come close about the 
houses searching for food. The writer has also taken it once in August, 
and T. L. Hankinson recorded one on the College campus September 20, 
1896. During the past winter (1912), it was reported from Eaton Rapids, 
Eaton county. It is recorded from Van Buren county by Dr. Gibbs who 
states that a specimen was collected there by Mr. B. F. Syke. 
A specimen was taken at Ann Arbor September 15, 1877, and three 
specimens October 5, 1886 (Covert). ‘During the fall and winter of 1903, 
the species appeared to be fairly common, as J. J. Ricks noted a flock at 
Portage Lake, and it has been noted several times in the vicinity of Ann 
Arbor, on Dec. 13, 1900, Feb. 7 and 21, and March 13, 1904’’ (Wood and 
Tinker, Auk, XXVII, 1910, 141). According to G. A. Stockwell (Forest and 
Stream, Vol. 8, page 261) it was plentiful in 1870 in Maton and Barry counties. 
