SNOW BIRD. 179 
they approach nearer the farm-house and villages; and on the appear- 
ance of, what is usually called, falling weather, assemble in larger 
flocks, and seem doubly diligent in searching for food. This increased 
activity is generally a sure prognostic of a storm. When deep snows 
cover the ground, they become almost half domesticated. They col- 
lect 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 this severe 
season, when the face of the earth is shut up from them, to the seeds 
of many kinds of weeds. that still rise above the snow, in corners of 
fields, and low, sheltered situations, along the borders of creeks and 
fences, where they associate with several species of Sparrows, particu- 
larly those represented in Nos. 72, 73, and 74, They are, at this time, 
easily caught with almost any kind of trap; are generally fat, and, it 
is said, are excellent eating. P 
I cannot but consider this bird as the most numerous of its tribe 
of any within the United States. From the northern parts of the 
District * of Maine to the Ogeechee River in Georgia, —a distance, 
by the circuitous route in which I travelled, of more than 1800 miles, 
—JI never passed a day, and scarcely a mile, without seeing numbers 
of these birds, and frequently large flocks of several thousands. Other 
travellers 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 favorite 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, represented in No. 71, and several 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 victims. 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 thick- 
ets; at which time the males warble out a few very low, sweet notes, 
and are almost perpetually pursuing and fighting with each other. 
About the 20th 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 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 pretty general 
that the Snow Bird, in summer, is transformed into the Small Chipping 
* Now State of Maine.. 
