COMMON SNOW-BIRD. 
493 
the shade of thickets or the sides of hills, and frequently 
utter a few sweet, clear, and tender notes, almost similar 
to the touching warble of the European Robin Red- 
breast. The jealous contest for the selection of mates 
already also takes place ; soon after which they retire, 
mostly to the remote northern or arctic regions to breed ; 
though, according to Wilson, many also remove only to 
the high ranges of the Alleghany Mountains, where, in the 
interior of Virginia, and towards the western sources of 
the Susquehanna, they also breed in great numbers ; 
fixing their nests on the ground, or among the grass, the 
pairs still associating in near communion with each other. 
In Europe this species dwells almost wholly among the 
wild recesses of the Alpine Mountains of Switzerland, 
the Pyrenees, and the high northern chains on the limits 
of the region of perpetual ice ! In the winter, less driv- 
en by necessity, or less encouraged by the inviting scope 
of an extensive continent, they there only migrate into 
the mountainous countries, and rarely descend into the 
plains. Their food is also observed to be insects, pine 
seeds, and those of aquatic plants. They likewise nest 
upon the rocks, or in their crevices, and lay 3 to 5 eggs, of 
a pale green, scattered with irregular touches and points 
of cinereous, blended with spots of dark green. 
The Snow-Bird is 6J to 7 inches long. The general color is bluish 
or leaden black, inclining to grey ; the lower parts from the breast to 
the tail white. .Three secondary quills next the body edged with pale 
brown, the primaries with white. Tail dusky, emarginate. Bill 
and legs pale yellowish flesh-color in winter ; in summer the bill is 
black, and the feet brown. Iris bluish-black. — Female and young 
tinged with brown. — By the wearing of the edges of the feathers, 
in the course of the season, the male becomes of a deeper and clearer 
color. 
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