THE WHITE-CROWNED EINCH. 
15& 
moss, and were all constructed alike. They deposit their eggs from the 
beginning to the end of June. In the beginning of August, I saw many 
young that were able to fly, and by the 12th of that month the birds had 
already commenced their southward migration. The young follow their 
parents until nearly full grown. 
The food of this species, while in Labrador, consists of small coleopterous 
insects, grass-seeds, and a variety of berries, as well as some minute shell- 
fish, for which they frequently search the margins of ponds or the sea-shore. 
At the approach of autumn, they pursue, insects on the wing, to a short 
distance, and doubtless secure some in that manner. 
The song of the White-crowned Finch consists of six or seven notes, the 
first of which is loud, clear, and musical, although of a plaintive nature ; 
the next broader, less firm, and seeming merely a second to the first ; the 
rest form a cadence diminishing in power to the last note, which sounds as 
if the final effort of the musician. These notes are repeated at short inter- 
vals during the whole day, even on those dismal days produced by the thick 
fogs of the country where it breeds, and where this species is of all the 
most abundant. The White-throated Finch was also very plentiful, and we 
found it breeding in the same localities. 
The flight of this interesting bird is usually low, swift, and greatly pro- 
tracted. It is performed without any jerk of the tail. They migrate mostly 
by day — I say mostly , because while crossing a great arm of the sea, like 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they perhaps may not always be able to accom- 
plish their transit in one day. 
I have met with this bird in almost every portion of the United States 
during early spring and autumn, but always either single or in very small 
groups. I have shot some near New (Means in April, at Cincinnati, and 
near New York in May. They reach the Magdeleine Islands, Newfound- 
land, and the coast of Labrador, about the first of June. Those which I 
have seen on their passage through the United States were perfectly silent, 
and usually frequented low bushes and grape-vines, the fruit of which they 
eagerly eat, but never entering the woods. In every instance I found them 
as gentle and unsuspicious as whilst at Labrador. 
In the plate are to be seen two of these birds, drawn many years ago, one 
of them a male in full summer plumuge, the other a female in the winter 
dress. I have no doubt that this species retires far south in Mexico, to 
spend the winter. It is nearly allied to the White-throated and Fox-tailed 
Sparrows, and in its winter plumage it may perhaps prove to be the Frin 
gilla ambigua of my friend Nuttall. 
Male, 74, 104 . 
