274 SNOWBIRD. 



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 thickets ; 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 sparrow, which we find so common in that 

 season, and which is represented in the same plate. I had 

 convinced a gentleman of New York of his mistake in this 

 matter by taking him to the house of a Mr Grautier there, 

 who amuses himself by keeping a great number of native as 

 well as foreign birds. This was in the month of July, and the 

 snow bird appeared there in the same coloured plumage he 

 usually has. Several individuals of the chipping sparrow were 

 also in the same apartment. The evidence was, therefore, irre- 

 sistible ; but, as I had not the same proofs to offer to the eye 

 in New England, I had not the same success. 



There must be something in the temperature of the blood 

 or constitution of this bird which unfits it for residing during 

 summer in the lower parts of the United States, as the 

 country here abounds with a great variety of food of which 

 during its stay it appears to be remarkably fond. Or per- 

 haps its habit of associating in such numbers to breed, and 

 building its nest with so little precaution, may, to ensure its 



