FINCHES 



17 



Someone has said that any bird is frequent 

 enough to be common if you go where it breeds. 

 The Pine Sisivin breeds from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific and yet very few people have ever seen 

 the bird. The reason is that the bird not only 

 confines itself pretty closely to the evergreen 

 mountain forests, but even there it is uncertain 

 in its abode. One year it may be seen in large 

 numbers about one group of mountain peaks 

 and valleys. The next year not a Siskin can 

 be found in the whole district. This uncertainty 

 in its breeding areas is as nothing to the eccen- 

 tricity of the fall and winter ramblings. Many 

 winters pass without a Siskin being seen about 

 New York city, Boston, Washington, and 

 Chicago. Then again there are winters when 

 they are tolerably common. Its notes are some- 

 what similar to the Goldfinch's. T. M. Trippe of 

 Colorado wrote to Dr. Coues that " in spring it 

 sings very agreeably, very much like the latter 

 bird [the Goldfinch], but in a lower voice; 

 and like it has the habit of singing in a lively, 

 rambling sort of way for an hour or more at 

 a time." 



The birds congregate in large flocks after the 

 breeding season. There is nothing particularly 

 interesting to attract an observer to a flock feed- 

 ing qtiietly in the weeds. They look like plain 

 little striped brown Sparrows. Startle them 

 and the flock as one bird will rise and wheel off 

 to a more distant feeding ground. A quick ob- 

 server will notice the yellow patches on the wings 

 and tail. Then too they may utter weak tit-i- 

 tit notes, or on occasions will break out in 

 Goldfinch-like scc-a-z^'cc notes that betrav the 



close relationship to the \Vild Canary. Herbert 

 K. Job calls them Northern Canary Birds, 

 and says that he found them in their nesting 

 grounds in June in northern Nova Scotia ; and 

 that they were singing prettily in the shade trees 

 along the streets of Pictou. Wells W. Cooke 

 said that in Colorado the .Si>kins range from the 

 timber-line in the high mountains down to about 

 7000 feet above sea level. " Some stay near the 

 timber-line through the winter, but the bulk 

 scatter over the lower valleys and plains." 



Herbert K. Job says that it was early in Octo- 

 ber when he saw the Siskins for the first time. 

 He was hunting Partridge and \\'oodcock and 

 in an opening in the woods he saw a flock of 

 them alight on a tree. Trembling with excite- 

 ment he fired into the midst of them and ob- 

 tained a number of specimens. Never since has 

 he seen so large a flock. The ordinary bird 

 observer may not be so excited as Mr. Job was, 

 but he had better look lung and earnestly when 

 he sees his first flock, for it may be manv a day 

 before he sees the second. 



T. Net, SON Nichols. 



The Pine .Siskin is very similar in his habits 

 to the Goldfinch and the Redpoll and associates 

 very freely with them. Not infrequently he is 

 seen with Crossbills. He feeds principally on 

 the seeds of the white cedar, tamarack, and the 

 various pines and spruces. When the ground 

 is bare he eagerly eats the fallen seeds of maple, 

 elm. and other trees, as well as grass and weed 

 seeds. Frequently he is reported in the spring as 

 feeding on dandelion seeds. 



ENGLISH SPARROW 

 Passer domesticus {Liniunis} 



Other Names. — European House Sparrow ; Gamin ; 

 Tramp ; Hoodlum : Domestic Sparrow. 



General Description. — Length, 5'4 inches. Upper 

 parts, reddish-brown, streaked with black; under parts, 

 grayish-white. Bill, stout, shorter than head; wings, 

 of medium lengtli ; tail, about .'4 length of wing; legs, 

 short and rather stout. 



Color. — Adult M,.\le: Crown, deep gray or olive- 

 gray bordered laterally by a broad patch of chestnut 

 extending from behind the eye to sides of neck ; chin, 

 throat, and chest, black ; a small white spot above rear 

 angle of the eye; back and shoulders, rusty brown 

 streaked with black ; lesser wing-coverts, chestnut ; 

 middle coverts, blackish tipped with white forming a 

 conspicuous bar ; rest of wings, dusky with light brown 

 and rusty brown edgings ; rump, olive or olive-grayish ; 

 tail, dusky edged with light olive or olive-grayish : 

 cheek region and sides of throat, white; under parts of 

 body, dull grayish white, more grayish laterally ; bill, 

 black. .AnuLT Fem.^le: Crown and hindneck, grayish 



brown or olive; chin, throat, and chest, dull brownish 

 white or pale brownish gray like rest of under parts; 

 otherwise like the adult male, but back browner. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Occasionally built in trees, 

 more often in bird-houses, electric-light hoods, cornices, 

 water-spouts, and similar places ; tree-nests large and 

 covered, others open ; made of grasses or any easily 

 obtained material, loosely put together, and lined with 

 featliers. Eggs : 4 to 7, generally white, finely and 

 evenly marked with olive, but also varying from plain 

 white to almost uniform olive brown; two broods at 

 least in a season, usually three, and soinetimes four and 

 even five. 



Distribution, — luirope in general, except Italy ; 

 introduced into the United States, where thoroughly 

 and ineradicably naturalized in all settled districts, 

 except southern Florida and a few other extreme out- 

 posts; also introduced into Bahamas (island of New 

 Providence), Cuba, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, and 

 southern Greenland. 



