THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
four outer ones on each side, nearly all white; sides, thighs, 
and vent pale yellow ochre, streaked with black; upper 
mandible brown, lower bluish white; eyelids furnished with 
strong black hairs; legs and feet very large, and of a pale 
flesh colour. 
The female has the black crescent more skirted with 
grey, and not of so deep a black. In the rest of her mark- 
ings, the plumage differs little from that of the male. I 
must here take notice of a mistake committed by Mr. Ed- 
wards, in his History of Birds, Vol. VI. p. 123, where, 
on the authority of a bird dealer of London, he describes 
the Calandre Lark (a native of Italy and Russia), as belong- 
ing also to North America, and having been brought from 
Carolina. I can say with confidence, that in all my excur- 
sions through that and the rest of the southern States, I 
never met such a bird, nor any person who had ever seen 
it. I have no hesitation in believing that the Calandre is 
not a native of the United States. 
SNOW-BIRD. 
FR INGILL A HUDSONIA. 
[Plate VIII.] 
Fringilla Hudsonia, Turton, Syst. i. 568. — Emberiza 
hyemalis, Id. 531. — Lath. i. 66. — Catesby, x. 36. — 
Arct. Zool. p. 359, No. 223. — Passer nivalis , Bar- 
tram, p. 291. — Fringilla hyemalis , Linn. Syst. Ed. 
10, i. p. 183, 30. — J. Doughty’s Collection. 
This well-known species, small and insignificant as it 
may appear, is by far the most numerous, as well as the 
most extensively disseminated, of all the feathered tribes 
that visit us from the frozen regions of the north. Their 
migrations extending from the arctic circle, and probably 
beyond it, to the shores of the gulf of Mexico, spreading 
over the whole breadth of the United States, from the 
Atlantic Ocean to Louisiana; how much farther westward 
I am unable to say. About the twentieth of October, they 
make their first appearance in those parts of Pennsylvania 
east of the Alleghany mountains. At first they are most 
generally seen on the borders of woods, among the falling 
and decayed leaves, in loose flocks of thirty or forty toge- 
ther, always taking to the trees when disturbed. As the 
weather sets in colder, they approach nearer the farm-house 
and villages; and, on the appearance of what is usually 
called falling weather , assemble in larger flocks, and seem 
doubly diligent in searching for food. This increased acti- 
vity is generally a sure prognostic of a storm. When deep 
6now covers the ground, they become almost half domesti- 
cated. They collect about the barn, stables, and other 
outhouses, 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 shel- 
tered situations, along the borders of creeks and fences, 
where they associate with several species of Sparrows. 
They are, at this time, easily caught with almost any kind 
of traps; are generally fat, and, it is said, are excellent 
eating. 
I cannot but consider this bird as the most numerous of 
its tribe of any within the United States. From the north- 
ern parts of the district of Maine, to the Ogechee river in 
Georgia, a distance, by the circuitous route in which I tra- 
velled, of more than 1800 miles, I never passed a day, and 
scarcely a mile, without seeing numbers of these birds, and 
frequently large flocks of several thousands. Other tra- 
vellers, 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 favour- 
ite 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, ( Falco sparverius ) and seve- 
ral 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 victim. 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 thickets; at which time the males warble out a 
few very low sweet notes: and are almost perpetually pur- 
suing and fighting with each other. About the twentieth 
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’s 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 
