258 
FRINGILLA NIVALIS# 
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 obser- 
vations 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 trans- 
formed into the small chipping sparrow, which we find 
so common in that season. I had convinced a gentleman 
of New York of his mistake in this matter, by taking 
him to the house of a Mr Gautier, 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, irresistible ; 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 here, it 
appears to be remarkably fond. Or, perhaps, its habit 
of associating in such numbers to breed, and building 
its nest with so little precaution, may, to ensure its 
safety, require a solitary region, far from the intruding 
footsteps of man. 
The snow bird is six inches long, and nine in extent ; 
