PINE BULLFINCH. 413 



Remarks. — The above descriptions are taken from two per- 

 fect skins from America, obligingly lent for the purpose by- 

 Mr. ^lacdiifF Carfrae. I have never seen a British specimen, 

 recent or stuft'ed, of this bird ; nor am I aware of the exist- 

 ence of any in public or private collections. Pennant men- 

 tions having met with it early in August in the pine forest of 

 Invercauld in Aberdeenshire, and supposed that they breed 

 there ; but no subsequent British author speaks of them from 

 personal observation. Yet it is possible enough that the bird 

 may be a permanent resident, although, in the present state of 

 our knowledge, we must consent to assign it the rank of a very 

 rare occasional visitant. It occurs, according to authors, in the 

 northern parts of both continents, and feeds on the seeds of 

 pines, and various other plants, as well as berries. 



The young males, at first similar to the females, assume an 

 orange tint at their first moult ; in short, exhibit the same gra- 

 dations as the Crossbills *, but as I have not examined them in 

 these states, I deem it expedient to conclude my necessarily 

 brief account of this species with observing that it clearly forms 

 the transition from the Common Bullfinch to the Crossbills, 

 the affinities of which, w^ithout so obvious a link, it might be 

 very difficult to determine ; and lastly, that M. Temminck has 

 erred in stating that in the Bullfinches the fourth quill is the 

 longest, and that the tail is slightly rounded or even, the second 

 and third quills being the longest in our two species, and the 

 tail distinctly emarginate in both, but more especially in the 

 present. 



