composed of hemlock and other twigs, and the interior of grasses and rootlets, lined 

 with finer grasses and a little moss. The eggs, four in number, are now before me. 

 They have a greenish-blue ground-color and are marked with many rather large and 

 irregular lilac shell marks, mostly on the larger end, and a number of dark brown spots 

 and blotches distributed rather unevenly over the entire shell. The eggs measure 

 1.00 X. 73, 1.04 X. 74, 1.03 X. 70, .97x-72. 



These birds occasionally make southern Wisconsin and northern IlHnois their winter- 

 quarters. I have had frequent opportunities of observing them. They usually appear late 

 in fall or early in winter in flocks of from five to thirty. They do not occur every winter. 

 Years may pass before they visit the Northern States, and, on the other hand, it may 

 so happen that they are present in several successive winters. They seem to leave their 

 northern breeding range only when their supply of food, consisting mainly of coniferous 

 seeds and berries, is short. Like all birds from those unsettled regions, they are exceed- 

 ingly tame and unsuspicious when first making their appearance. When fired at or 

 when one is caught in a trap cage, the others, instead of flying away, move toward 

 their enemy, or alight on the cage, entirely unconscious of their own danger. I have 

 seen whole flocks destroyed by bad boys. Later in the season, however, they are more 

 shy and suspicious, having become acquainted, by experience, with the bad traits of 

 man. Without fear they even visit the gardens and parks in large cities. According to 

 the observations of Miss Hedwig Schlichting, they feed largely on the seeds of mountain- 

 ash berries, and later in winter, w^hen this food supply is exhausted, on other seeds and 

 on buds of difierent trees. She has observed these birds during a period of twenty years 

 in seven winters, usually in small flocks and sometimes associated with Crossbills, Red- 

 polls, and other winter birds in Sheboygan County, Wis. She describes them as very 

 beautiful objects on the snow-covered branches of pines and spruces. They always pre- 

 ferred to retire in cold and stormy weather and during night to the evergreens. She 

 observed them always in exceptionally cold and snowy winters. 



In the winter from 1877 to 1878 I observed them in large numbers in northern 

 Illinois. In Oak Park, a beautiful suburb of Chicago, I had an opportunity of seeing 

 them almost daily during the winter. A large garden adjoining my house was planted 

 with a number of spruces, firs, pines, "Und white cedars, besides juniper bushes, apple 

 and pear trees, and ornamental shrubs. In this garden they were at home, nobody being 

 inclined to disturb them. Very early in the morning, after having spent the night in the 

 evergreens, many chattered and sang most diligently, while others were engaged in 

 bringing their plumage in order. The berries of the mountain-ash and seeds of ever- 

 greens and sun-flowers formed their main diet, while the buds of the Iruit trees were 

 eagerly searched for. But no serious damage was done by them, as the apple and 

 pear trees were loaded with fruit in the year 1878. They were very common in the 

 pine and spruce trees near dwellings, and in the belts of evergreens around orchards. 

 In a flock of forty or fifty birds, scarcely more than two or three entirely red ones 

 were seen. Many of the males were tinged with red, while the females showed no red at 

 all. I have rarely seen them on the ground, and only in cases when they were picking up 

 mountain-ash berries which had fallen down. They hop about on the ground in a 

 rather ackward way. In the dense branches of spruces, firs, and pines they display a 



