338 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BXJLLETIN 237 pakt i 



Distribution 



Range. — The Kamchatka pine grosbeak is resident in Kamchatka. 

 Also recorded in the Komandorskie Islands. 



Casual records. — Casual in winter south to Japan and the Kurile 

 Islands. 



Accidental in Alaska (St. George Island in the Pribilof Islands). 



PINICOLA ENUCLEATOR ALASCENSIS Ridgway 



Alaska Pine Grosbeak 



Habits 



Ridgway (1898) described this northern race as similar to the 

 Canadian pine grosbeak "but decidedly larger, with smaller or 

 shorter bill and paler coloration; both sexes with the gray parts 

 distinctly lighter, more ashy." 



The 1957 Check-List gives it the following range: Breeds, and 

 partly resident, in central Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales, Fairbanks), 

 Yukon (Russell Creek, Carcross), western Mackenzie (Aklavilv, 

 Fort Simpson), and northeastern British Columbia (Lower Laird Cross- 

 ing). Winters south to southeastern Alaska (Chitina, Wrangell), 

 central Oregon (Sisters, Camp Harney, Ironside), and northern 

 North Dakota (Turtle Mountains, Devils Lake). 



Nelson (1887) writes of its distribution and habits in northern 

 Alaska: "It is Hmited by the range of spruce, pine, and cotton-wood 

 forests. DaU found the crops of these Grosbeaks filled with cotton- 

 wood buds at Nulato, on the Yukon. During winter, while traveling 

 along the frozen surfaces of the water-courses of the interior, it is 

 common to note a party of these birds busy among the cotton-wood 

 tops uttering their cheerful lisping notes as they move from tree to 

 tree. * * * They rarely paid any attention to us, but kept on 

 their way, and were, ere long, lost to sight in the midst of the bending 

 tree-tops. * * * These birds withstand the severest cold in these 

 forests, even within the Arctic Circle, and appear to be about equally 

 distributed throughout the wooded region." 



Joseph Grinnell (1900a) found this grosbeak "to be a common resi- 

 dent throughout the year in wooded tracts from the delta eastward 

 through the Kowak VaUey. * * * In September and October 

 Pine Grosbeaks were quite numerous, being often met with in com- 

 panies of six to a dozen, immatures and adults together. They were 

 usually among the scattering birch and spruce which line the low 

 ridges. * * * In the severest winter weather they were not often 

 seen in the spruces, but had then retreated into the willow-beds." 



