NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. g 



Family FRINGILLID^. Genus Loxia. 



Sub-family FRINGILLINM. 



PINE-GROSBEAK. 



Loxia enucleator, Liniiceus. 



(British : Very rare nomadic winter migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, late in May and in June. 



Breeding area : Northern Nearctic and Palsearctic 

 regions. The Pine-Grosbeak is a circumpolar species, 

 and breeds principally in the coniferous forests border- 

 ing the Arctic circle. In the Old World its breeding 

 range extends from Norwegian Lapland across North 

 Russia and Siberia to Kamtschatka, and south to the 

 mountain pine forests near Lake Baikal. In the New- 

 World it extends from Alaska to Labrador, and pro- 

 bably includes the whole of Canada, even the southern 

 provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick, in both of 

 whicli the nest of this bird has been taken. 



Breeding habits : The favourite breeding haunts 

 of the Pine-Grosbeak are the open spaces in the pine 

 woods, and rough uneven country where the spruce firs 

 and the larches occur in scattered groves or in single 

 trees, and by the sides of the Arctic streams on the 

 outskirts of the forests. Nothing appears to be known 

 of the pairing habits of this species. Apparently it is 

 not gregarious during the breeding season, but the avail- 

 able evidence points to a certain amount of sociability. 

 John Wolley was the first naturalist to obtain any 

 reliable information concerning the nest and eggs of 

 the Pine-Grosbeak. He found it breeding near Muonio- 

 niska in Lapland in 1855 ; and in 1862 Wheelwright, 

 better known as the " Old Bushman," procured a series 

 of five nests near Quickiock in Northern Sweden, dur- 

 ing the same year that he was fortunate enough to 



