Plectriphanes ni/alis. 
1871. 
Middlesex County, Mass. 
(Jan 3), 
the first snow-storm. They are restless on cold days, 
tame and lethargic during thawing weather.. 
“ 24. 
Numbers at Revere BTeaeh, feeding on the wet sand and 
among masses of ice heaped up at high water mark. Throe 
alighted on the roof of a deserted house. 
“ 20 . 
One to-day. During the past m.onth they have regu¬ 
larly disappeared when over the weather became mild. 
“ 27., 
Several large flocks appeared just after a havy 
snow-storm. 
CO 
o 
• 
A heavy snov;-storm yesterday. Immense flocks ap¬ 
peared to-day. One containing at least a thousand birds 
feeding among weeds in an old field . They were very 
tame* v/hen shot at they rose in a dense cloud and 
alighted in the tops of some neighboring oaks, clustering 
thickly on every twig. When they started the noise of 
their v/ings hitting against the branches was like the 
crashing sound of a falling tree. When about to alight 
in a field, and just as they made their last wheel hun¬ 
dreds as if by a given signal would utter their harsh 
chatter at once making a deafening noise. Wing-broken 
birds would run to the nearest hillock, and standing 
erect utter a plaintive piping. When caught they bit 
with all their strength which was not great. 
Peb. 11 . 
Two single birds the last. 
Oct. 30. 
Two small flocks. 
1872. 
Mar. 20. 
A single bird at Grantville , the last. They have 
I Dtjtsn 0 C 8 .FCO lino x&si/ v/int/ 0 r 
Peb. 23H 
1 An immense flock whirling about over the fields in 
1 Concord. 
i 
1874. 
Peb. 5, 
1 
i 
j 
I A flock of about a hundred feeding among weeds in 
a fallovr field in Watertown, The recularitv an 
peciranco of this species inland with every heavy fall of 
snow, is somethink remarkable. 
1875. 
Jan 25., 
1 
i 
Two large flocks feeding in the Road near Presh Pond 
They v/ere so tame that I nearly drove over them and could 
not be forced to leave the road. 
