RED CONSPICUOUS IN PLUMAGE 477 



Breeding Season : May and June. 



Nest : Flat, thin structure composed of rootlets and twigs, lined with 

 finer roots, usually placed in coniferous trees. 



High in the Sierra Nevada range where, all the year 

 long, the crevices and sunless nooks hold patches of 

 snow, where the dark hemlock forests cover the moun- 

 tain sides with their shad- 

 ows, the Pine Grosbeak 

 finds temperature, food, 

 and breeding grounds ex- 

 actly to liis liking. Nor 

 when the storms of winter 

 howl through the pines 

 does he go far to seek a 

 warmer climate. He seems 

 fairly to revel in the swirling 

 clouds of snow, and, until 

 driven by hunger to seek food 

 lower down the mountain, 

 lie will stay in his favorite 

 haunts. On the edge of a 

 snowdrift you may see him 

 picking up the wind-blown 

 seeds and frozen insecr^ life 

 that come there no man knows how. When the summer 

 suns have warmed the mountains, he whistles most 

 musical love songs as he frolics through the trees with 

 his mate. At all times, excej)t the few weeks of the 

 breeding season, he is found in company with others 

 of his kind, both male and feniale. Early in May the 



515 b. California Pine 



GllOSBEAK. 



"/f? seems fairlii to revel in the 

 snirling clouds of snow.'''' 



