CANADIAN PINE GROSBEAK 335 



or on the leaf buds. William Brewster (1895) draws the following 

 attractive picture of a flock of pine grosbeaks: 



When I first saw them they were assembling in a large white ash which over- 

 hangs the street. This tree was loaded with fruit, and with snow clinging to 

 the fruit-clusters and to every twig. In a few minutes it also supported more 

 than a hundred Grosbeaks who distributed themselves quite evenly over every 

 part from the drooping lower, to the upright upper, branches and began shelling 

 out and swallowing the seeds, the rejected wings of which, floating down in 

 showers, soon gave the surface of the snow beneath the tree a light brownish tinge. 

 The snow cHnging to the twigs and branches was also quickly dislodged by the 

 movements of the active, heavy birds and for the first few minutes it was inces- 

 santly flashing out in puffs like steam from a dozen different points at once. The 

 finer particles, sifting slowly down, filled the still air and enveloped the entire tree 

 in a veilKke mist of incredible dehcacy and beauty, tinted, where the sunbeams 

 pierced it, with rose, salmon, and orange, elsewhere of a soft dead white, — truly 

 a fitting drapery for this winter picture, — the hardy Grosbeaks at their morning 

 meal. 



Albert E. Allin writes Taber that in the Fort Wilham region of 

 Ontario, where this species winters in great numbers, the relative 

 winter abundance is associated directly with the relative abundance 

 of fruit of the rowan tree, Pyrus aucwparia, which border the streets 

 in quantity. Birds commence to arrive in October or early No- 

 vember, appearing first on the outskirts of the cities, then pene- 

 trating within. The pine grosbeak population builds up to a peak 

 around Christmas or early in January, then decreases as the rowan 

 fruit is consumed. A minor upsurge takes place again in late Feb- 

 ruary or early March, but the high count of 200 bii'ds as late as March 

 2, 1941, was unusual. 



Distribution 



Range. — Mackenzie and Labrador to northern United States. 



Breeding range. — Breeds from central Mackenzie (Great Bear Lake, 

 Fort Reliance), northern Manitoba (Churchill), northern Ontario 

 (Fort Severn, Fort Albany), northern Quebec (Richmond Gulf, Fort 

 Chimo, George River), and northern Labrador (Okak) south to 

 northern Alberta, central Saskatchewan, central Manitoba, central 

 Ontario (Temagami, occasionally to Sundridge), and central Labrador 

 (upper Hamilton River, Stag Bay). 



Winter range. — Winters in southern parts of the breeding range, 

 south casually to central Alberta (Edmonton), Nebraska (Neligh), 

 Kentucky (Hickman), Maryland (Assateague Island), Massachusetts 

 (Cambridge), southern Maine (Buckfield, Brewer), and Newfoundland 

 (Pasadena, Bay Bulls). 



Casual records. — Casual in Kansas (Hays). 



Accidental in northern Keewatin (Repulse Bay). 



