No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 179 



in tho uortherii portion of oni- State, and we received a report from 

 Tioga county ol" this biid cutting aj)[»les to pieces in order to 

 obtain and eal their seeds. A specimen sent to us at our request 

 made it possible to be accurate in the determination of the species. 

 I have evidences that this crossbill nests in the central part of 

 Pennsylvania, in the fact that during the middle of the summer of 

 1902 a pair of old birds accompanied by four of their young were 

 seen for two days npon the State College campus, in Centre county, 

 feeding upon the combs or mites of the cock's-comb elm gall. 



During the winter, which was unsusually long and severe, there 

 was a decided immigration of northern birds into our State. Es- 

 pecially remarkable among these were the pine grosbeak {Pinicola 

 enucleator)^ Hie crossbills (both species of the genus Z<9«/«), the 

 snow ilake { Pled j^opJienax nivalis) ^ and the pine siskin or pine fincli 

 ( /Spinus pin us. ) 



Tlie severity of the winter resulted in killing most of the quail 

 ( Colinus virginianus') of our State, many of the wild turkeys and 

 some of the ruffed grouse. This spring many persons will attempt 

 to procure and introduce quails from other States. We know a few 

 individuals who feed and shelter the quails on their premises, ac- 

 cording to th(^ directions given in the Monthly Bulletin, and thus 

 save these birds, which are of such great value to farmers and 

 interest to sportsmen. 



During the early portion of this spring (1904) there has been an 

 unusual Uight of the aquatic birds. In the vicinity of Harrisburg 

 gunners have shot several species of wild ducks, holeboeH's, grebe, 

 several specimens of the whistling swan ( Olor columhianus) and 

 one specimen of the trumpeter swan {Olor huccinator) . We have 

 been fortunate in scuring specimens of these very rare birds in this 

 State, and hope to receive funds for having them permanently pre- 

 served in a State Museum. There was also an unusual flight of 

 gulls along the Susquehanna river after the breaking up of the 

 ice, and this was doubtless due to the masses of ice filling the bays 

 and covering their feeding grounds near the mouth of the river. 



Notwithstanding the severity of the winter, we have recorded 

 two reports worthy of note, the robin having remained in Monroe 

 county, and the bluebird in the southern portion of the State. 



Mammals: One occurrence worthy of record is a panther {Felix 

 Goncolor) in the vicinity of Altoona, Pa., November, 1903; another 

 is the fisher, or pekan {Mustela peymanti) trapped in Monroe county, 

 and sent to this office, where the skin is preserved. This animal 

 is now^ almost entirely extinct in our State, and this specimen shows 

 its occurrence in a different region from that indicated in Warren's 

 ''Poultry Book," in 1897, in which he says "At the present time 

 about the only counties where these animals are to be found are 

 Clearfield, Potter and Sullivan." 



