CANADIAN PINE GROSBEAK 333 



song of the purple finch, which it otherwise somewhat resembles. 

 The song gives the impression of flowing forth without the exercise 

 of any effort on the part of the bird either to utter it or to terminate 

 it. The singer does not seem interested in its song. Sung from a 

 perch in a tree, each song continues for 2 seconds or a little more. 

 He considers the flight song as being much less vigorous than that 

 of the purple finch. 



Knight (1908) says: "Though it is a pleasure to watch a flock of 

 these warmly clothed, plump, robust birds feeding cheerfully on a 

 cold winter morning, the real pleasure of knowing them has not been 

 reached until the song of the male has been heard. Soft, tender, 

 ventriloquial and caressing at times, at others rising clear and loud 

 but always full of trills and warbles, the song of the Pine Grosbeak 

 easily places it on equal footing with any of our song birds." 



He also mentions "a pecuUar querulous whistled caree or c-r-r-r-u 

 or ca-r-a-r,^^ which is evidently a note of warning, "for when one of 

 a flock of feeding birds utters it all cease feeding and stand trans- 

 fixed, looking cautiously about for danger or suddenly taking flight." 

 Another call, often uttered when a bird has just alighted, "sounds 

 like a warbled pee-ah-pree-pu" and is "designed to call others to the 

 spot. When feeding they keep up a low whistled conversation 

 among themselves." 



Francis H. Allen has sent me the following notes: "On June 28, 

 1888, Bradford Torrey and I found two or three singing males on 

 Mount Lafayette in New Hampshire. The song most resembled 

 that of the purple finch but was sweeter, wilder, and more interesting. 

 It was really a beautiful song. 



"Besides the familiar flight call, suggestive of that of the greater 

 yellowlegs, the pine grosbeak has when feeding a soft, short whistle, 

 sometimes with a little roll in it, but usually unmodulated." 



Wendell Taber had the experience of having four birds fly in and 

 alight beside him, uttering the while an amplified version of the 

 common flight call of the goldfinch. The imitation was so perfect 

 that Oscar M. Root, some 30 yards distant, turned to look 

 for goldfinches. 



Field marks. — The pine grosbeak can generally be recognized by 

 its shape; it is a plump, stocky bird, about the size of a robin, but 

 much more robust, with a short, stubby black bill, two white wing 

 bars, and a slightly forked tail. Except in the rosy-colored males, 

 the colors are not conspicuous, the females showing only dull yellowish 

 ochre on the crowns and rumps. They are stolid birds and very 

 deliberate in their movements. 



Winter. — Pine grosbeaks are not strictly migratory. They do not 

 make regular latitudinal movements in spring and fall. Those indi- 



