FINCHES 



discovered a Pine (irosbeak by a roadside unable 

 to fly. owing to a slight injury to the wing, and 

 took it home. The wing soon healed, and the 

 bird, a young male, became very tame. Fre- 

 quently it was released from the cage and would 

 fly about the room, alighting on the persons of its 

 benefactors to eat seeds, crumbs, or tender leaves 

 such as lettuce. In spring it had a pretty warbled 

 song. I saw it in late summer when it was 

 molting and had lost most of its tail-feathers. 



One year a flock of these interesting birds 

 visited my garden daily from the middle of Janu- 

 ary to early March. They devoted themselves 

 mostly to the maple seeds on the ground under 

 those trees. I swept off the snow for them, and 

 thus secured their daily return. It was most 

 entertaining to watch them twirl the winged 

 seeds in their bills and bite out the kernels. They 

 are also partial to sumac, mountain ash. or other 

 trees which bear and hold berries, and are not 

 above eating some buds, of which surely there 

 are enough. 



In common with the Crossbills this species is 

 said to breed very early, even when there i 

 snow, but like them also it is probably irregular 

 in this respect, as nests have been found in sum- 

 mer. Herbert K. Job. 



In western North America are several varieties 

 of the Pine Grosbeak. The Rocky Mountain 

 Pine Grosbeak [Pinicola ciiiiclcalor inoiitana ) 

 lives in the Rocky Mountains from west central 

 Alberta, Idaho, and Montana to northern New 

 Mexico. The California Pine Grosbeak {Pini- 

 cola cnnclcator calif ornica) breeds in the central 

 Sierra Nevadas. in California. The Alaska Pine 

 Grosbeak (Pnticola oiitclditor ahiscriisis ) lirceds 



from northwestern Alaska and northwestern 

 Alackenzie to northern Washington and winters 

 south to eastern British Columbia and Montana. 

 The Kodiak Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola cnnclcator 

 flauiinitla) is a bird of southern Alaska coming 

 south in winter along the coast to British Co- 

 lumbia. The differences between these western 

 forms and between them and the comnmn Pine 

 Grosbeak are trifling — a little larger or a little 

 smaller in size, a shade darker or a shade lighter 

 in coloration. 



Phnto by H. K. Jub 



I Uuting Pub. Co. 



PINE GROSBEAK 

 In Mr. Job's garden 



The economic status of the Pine Grosbeaks is 

 as nearly neutral as that of any bird could be 

 They do no particular good beyond the possible 

 distribution of seeds of valuable trees and, on the 

 other hand, the few buds they eat from the ever- 

 green and shade trees do not amount to much. 

 Most of their food consists of buds from pine, 

 spruce, and tamarack trees, the berries of the 

 Mrginia juniper and the mountain ash, and the 

 seeds of the maples. 



PURPLE FINCH 



Carpodacus purpureas purpureas (Ginclin) 



A. O. U. Number =;i7 .See Color Plate 7f. 



Other Names. — Purple Linnet ; I'lirple Grll^l>ea^; ; 

 Red Linnet; Gray Linnet (immature and female). 



General Description. — Length, 6;<j inches. Male, 

 pinkisli-purple and brown ; female, olive-grayish above, 

 and white below, conspicuously streaked above and 

 below. Bill, shorter than head, conical, and thick ; 

 tail, about ^i length of wing, deeply einarginate. 



Color. — Adult Male: Crown, deep wine-purple 

 (more crimson in summer) ; rump, jialer. more pinkish 

 wine-purple: back and shoulders, reddish-brown or 



wine-purplish, streaked with darker: wings and tail, 

 dusky with light brownish-red or light brown edgings, 

 the middle and greater coverts, broadly tipped with dull 

 wine-purple or light brownish-red : eye and ear regions 

 dusky brownish-red; rest of head, together with front 

 and lateral under parts, pinkish wine-purple; abdomen, 

 anal region, and under tail-coverts, white ; flanks 

 usually streaked with brown, and longer under tail- 

 coverts rarely marked with narrow streaks of dusky. 

 Adult Fem.^le: Above, olive or olive-grayish (more 



