CANADIAN PINE GROSBEAK 331 



Maurice Brooks (1956) in referring to an invasion into West Virginia 

 during the winter of 1954-55 states that the birds "fed on frozen fruits 

 (particularly apples), seeds of maple and white ash, and on some 

 portion of the twigs of conifers, especially pitch pine (Pinus rigida). 

 In addition they made extensive use of other plant foods, some of 

 which would not be available northward. These included seeds of 

 tulip poplar, wild grapes {Viiis sp.), black haw and wild raisin {Vi- 

 burnum prunifolium and V. cassinoides) , flowering dogwood (Cornus 

 Horida), and greenbrier (Smilax sp.)-" The birds were also noted 

 feeding on fruits of staghorn sumach (Rhus Iiirta). 



K. E. Mumford wrote Mr. Bent of observing birds on Dec. 

 2, 1951, eating the red berries of nightshade, Solanum dulcamara, 

 during an invasion into Indiana. One bird fed on the jack pine cones 

 {Pinus banksiana). Birds also ate the seeds of a planted variety 

 of privet and of a cultivated honeysuckle. 



Albert E. Allin writes Taber that the fruit of the "Rowan tree," 

 actually the showy mountain ash, Pyrus decora, is by far the most 

 favored food for the great numbers of pine grosbeaks wintering in the 

 region of Fort William, Ontario. Initially, the birds feed in the trees. 

 Melting snow in the spring reveals a further food supply on the ground. 

 Next in favor come lilacs, probably Syringa villosa. Ornamental 

 apples (crabs) are, perhaps, equally popular once the rowan crop has 

 been depleted. Stragglers remaining after the main flocks of birds 

 have moved on southerly or in other directions feed at times ofT the 

 samaras of the black ash, Fraxinv^ nigra, and, at times, partake of 

 high-bush cranberries. Viburnum trilobum. Occasionally birds feed off 

 the box elder, Acer negundo, and white birch, Betula papyrifera. 



Behavior. — In Newfoundland, the pine grosbeak is called "the 

 mope," a most appropriate name for a bird that spends so much 

 tkne sitting stiU or moving about very slowly. When with us in 

 winter it is sm-prisingly tame or unafraid, allowing closer approach 

 than does any of our other common birds. 



It seems stupidly tame; one has no difficulty in catching it in the 

 simplest trap, with a slip noose, or in a hand net; I have tried picldng 

 it up by hand, but have never quite succeeded. It adapts itself 

 readily to captivity and makes an attractive pet. Knight (1908) 

 says that "one never knows the real loveliness of their character 

 until he has studied them close at hand for a protracted period as 

 was my privilege for about seven years. In captivity the male sings 

 almost continuously during the morning horn's and more or less 

 during the whole day in the spring months, and though not quite as 

 fuU of music at other seasons, there is hardly a day in the year but 

 that my captive birds sang more or less." 



