BIRDS. 171 



varied, melodious, sonorous — sometimes strong, sometimes soft. It imitates the voices of other 

 birds, and its song recalls sometimes that of the Thrush {Tardus musicus), sometimes that of Chry- 

 somitris sennits, and that of the Willow Warbler." From the close relationship of the two we would 

 infer that our bird has equal powers of song, 



The young of this species, iu the first dress, has the usual soft, loose plunuige common to 

 young birds, and the entire under surface is covered with a smoky brownish shade, palest ou 

 the abdomen; ou the back the smoky shade is present, but washed over with dull yellowish, which 

 is strongest on the crown and rump. The tail and wings are the same as in the adult, 

 but are a little more dingy and duller colored. A careful comparison of the large series of 

 Pine Grosbeaks in the National Museum collection, in conjunction with my own specimens, results 

 in the determination of three appreciable geographical races, of which two {emtclcator and cana- 

 densis) have been recently united iu Mr. Ridgway's Catalogue of the Birds of North America. The 

 third is a new race, found only along the south coast of Alaska, extending south, perhaps, to Wash- 

 ington Territory. There are specimens of it in the National Museum collection from Sitka and 

 Kadiak. 



I find that the European and American forms may be separated by certain appreciable and 

 pretty constant characters, mainly differences of proportion. Specimens from Alaska — north of 

 the Alaskan Mountains, and from Bering Straits east to the Mackenzie Eiver, and thence south 

 through the Eocky Mountains — agree in the different shape of the bill and in the clearer ashiness 

 of the plumage as compared with specimens from the Eastern United States and especially from 

 Southeastern Alaska, and as compared with Scandinavian specimens of the European form. The 

 northwest coast birds and those from Europe agree in having a wash of dark olive in marked 

 contrast to the clear and almost uniform ashiness in many of the Eocky Mountain and North 

 Alaskan birds. The color of the adult males of the Northern Alaskan bird is like those from the 

 Eastern United States and Europe. The Kadiak birds and thence south to Oregon have a rich 

 shade of red in summer. A male from Sitka has the head, breast, and rumj) bright scarlet. The 

 scarlet of a male from Kadiak — shot during the winter — is pale like some specimens from Europe 

 and America in winter, so it is i)robable that in the matter of coloration alone there are no dis- 

 tinctive racial characters. We find, however, that differences of proportion are apparently suffi- 

 ciently constant for the discrimination of the several forms. The beak of the Kadiak bird is longer 

 and slenderer and less full, or swollen, ou the sides than the birds from Northern Alaska, and the 

 under mandible is disproportionately heavy as. compared with the other forms. The birds from 

 Northern Alaska, the Eocky Mountains, and the Mackenzie Eiver region have the bill much 

 inflated, and the tip of the upper mandible is not strongly deeurved and lengthened as in Kadiak 

 specimens. There are two young birds in the first plumage, from Kadiak, which have a much 

 larger bill than a young bird in the same stage of plumage killed in Utah during the month of 

 September. The former also have more of a greenish-yellow shade on the head and rump. The 

 birds of the Eastern United States are recognizable as a rule from Eocky Mountain or Alaskan 

 specimens by their smaller and much less inflated beaks. Oregon specimens are very much like 

 those from Kadiak and Sitka in proportions and general appearance, but are larger, thus approach- 

 ing the Eocky Mountain form, which would indicate that it is along this portion of their range 

 that the two races intergrade.* 



* Two races of the North American hird are recoguized by Mr. Ridgway, ia his Manual of North American Birda, 

 as P. euncleator canadensis and P. emtdeator kodiaka, the latter being the race which Mr. Nelson suggested, but did not 

 name.— H.W. H. 



