438 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



After Oct. 4, 1889, at Lake Umbagog, Maine, they were feeding 

 exclusively on the seeds of birches (Brewster, 1938). 



John F. Ferry (1907) writes that, in winter in northeastern Illinois, 

 "they were observed to feed industriously on coneless branches of 

 pines and spruces. The object sought was probably the dry resinous 

 aments of these conifers. They frequent patches of thistle and seed- 

 bearing weeds and work very actively and in perfect silence." 



In South Carolina in the winter of 1896-97, a time of siskin abun- 

 dance there, Arthur Wayne (1906) observed them "feeding on the 

 seeds of sweet gum {Liguidamher styracijlua), and shortleaf pine 

 (Pinus mitis)." 



During a winter and spring when siskins were common at San 

 Diego, Calif., F. F. Gander (1929b) noted that their food was almost 

 entirely seeds of various species of eucalyptus, which they obtained 

 from pods on the trees and also among fallen leaves. 



In Flathead County, Mont., on Aug. 7, 1915, A. D. DuBois (MS.) 

 recorded pine siskins eating thistle seeds along the railway. "I 

 watched one for some time. He would fly to a thistle hea,d and, 

 clinging to it, sometimes nearly upside down, would pull out the 

 cottony tufts one or two at a time, very dexterously and rather 

 rapidly, working his bill along to the seed which he removed and then 

 threw the fluff to the breeze, immediately working out another tuft. 

 He pulled them part way out, a bunch at a time, afterward slipping 

 them along until they came out one at a time or sometimes two." 

 In North Dakota, O. A. Stevens (MS.) wondered how the siskins got 

 dandelion seeds. On investigation he found that they did not wait 

 for the heads to open, but pulled off some of the bracts and took the 

 seeds before they were fully ripe. 



In two areas, on opposite sides of the continent, the siskin has 

 reportedly done extensive damage to vegetable and flower gardens. 

 From Independence Lake, British Columbia, T. and E. McCabe (1929) 

 write regarding areas recently opened to farming : 



None of us who have vegetable gardens has been spared by the siskins. Our 

 own case is the most extreme, as w^e have attracted the species by means of 

 amazingly effective salt and clay baits for banding purposes. It is now impossible 

 to raise most vegetables except under wire. In rather long experience of gardens 

 and their pests we have seen nothing to rival the instantaneous devastation which 

 an 'unobtrusive flock of siskins can inflict, often before their presence in a garden 

 has been noticed. Not once, but season after season, and time after time within 

 the same season, we have seen long rows of seedling beets, chard, lettuce, radishes, 

 and onions, cut neatly to the ground. * * * Peas and cole crops, as far as we 

 know, are not taken, but we hear of the destruction of turnips. * * * 



The farmers nearer the Fraser [River] suffer as much as we do, and in spite of 

 being further from the mountains, more than most of our nearer neighbors. We 

 know of one ranch where for years a barn door has been used as a deadfall, and 

 the birds fed to hogs by bucketfuls. In another case great numbers are shot, 



