PASSERES—FRINGILLID. 141 
new year opens. It could hardly be called common, in the 
usual acceptance of that term, at any time, because the birds 
band themselves together in greater or lesser flocks and are 
not found in any other fashion. The flocks range over con- 
siderable territory, appearing and reappearing at any one 
place but few times during the winter. The flocks may 
range from a few to several hundred individuals. Rarely 
single birds may be found with the flocks of Horned Larks 
or Lapland Longspurs. The species is less and less numer- 
ous as one proceeds southward from the lake shore, becom- 
ing only occasional in southern Ohio, in exceptional 
weather. 
Feeding wholly on the ground, Snowflake picks up such 
seeds as may have been dropped or missed by the other spar- 
rows. When the ground is completely covered with snow 
they are driven to feed upon the standing weed tops which 
project above the snow. A favorite feeding-place is a rail- 
road track, where grains of wheat and oats sift through 
the cars and afford easy picking. 
The Snowflakes are strictly winter birds, seldom appear- 
ing before the country is well snow-bound, or they drive 
down just in front of a blizzard to give fair warning. They 
are gone before April, usually not long after the first of 
March. 
195. (536.) Catcarius Lapponicus (Linn.). 93. 
Lapland Longspur. 
Synonyms: Plectrophanes lapponicus, Centrophanes lapponi- 
cus, Fringilla lapponica. 
Wheaton, Ohio Agri. Report, 1860, 366. 
Dr. Wheaton’s statements regarding this winter species 
still hold good for practically all of the state, except that I 
would not term it common at any time. “The first to ap- 
pear are single birds, in company with Shore Larks. Aft- 
erward they may be seen in compact flocks of from ten to 
thirty, frequenting old brick-yards, and fields where cattle 
are fed, in company with Shore Larks, with which they as- 
sociate on the ground, but fly by themselves in close flocks. 
