FRINGILLID^ : FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 



343 



large white spaces on inner webs, and sometimes tipped with white. Adult $ 9 diflFer in the 

 shade of yellow and degree of its obscuration. (Specimens from Southern Rocky Mts. said 

 to have less turgid bill and narrower yellow frontlet.) A bird of distinguished appearance, 

 wlujse very name suggests the far-away land of tlie dipping sun, and the tuneful romance 

 wliich the wild bird throws around the fadiug light of day; clothed in striking color-contrasts 

 of black, white, and gold, he seems to represent the allegory of diurnal transmutation ; for his 

 sable pinions close around the brightness of his vesture, as night encompasses the golden hues 

 of sunset, while the clear white space enfolded in these tints foretells tlie dawn of the mon-ow. 

 Western U. S. and somewhat northward ; E. in region of great lakes to N. Y. and Canada 

 and probably New England; irregularly migratory ; common. Nest and eggs unknown. 



62. PINI'COLA. (Lat. pimcs, a pine ; colo, I cultivate.) Pine Bullfinches. Bill short, 

 stout, about as high as broad, sides convex in all directions, culmen convex throughout, tip 

 hooked ; commissure gently curved throughout, without decided angulation ; gonys relatively 

 long, rami of under mandible short, former nearly straight, latter coming together in a very 

 broad gentle curve ; commissural edge inflected. Nostrils small, round, basal, concealed by 

 the ruff of antrorse plumules ; nasal fossae short and broad. Wings of moderate length, tipped 

 by 2d-ith quills, 1st and 5th a little shorter ; 2d-5th with outer webs incised ; no peculiarity 

 of inner quills. Tail little shorter than wings, emarginate, its short coverts scarcely or not 

 reaching half-way to end. Feet small ; tarsus not longer than middle toe without claw, 7-scu- 

 tellate in front, laminiplantar behind, but the outer of these plates commonly subdivided into 3 

 or 4 below ! Lateral toes short, their claws scarcely surpassing base of middle one, outer 

 rather longer than inner ; hind toe less in length than inner lateral ; its claw shorter, though 

 stouter and more curved than the middle. Sexes 

 unlike ; ^ red, 9 gr'^^y- ^^^ species. 



190. P. enuclea'tor. (Lat. enucleator, one who shells 

 out. Fig. 207.) Pine Grosbeak. Adult ^ : 

 Light carmine or rosy-red, feathers of back with 

 dusky centres ; lower belly and under taU-coverts 

 gray, and, in general, the red continuous only in 

 highly pluraaged specimens. Nasal tufts and lores 

 blackish. Wings blackish ; primaries with nan'ow 

 white or rosy edging, inner secondaries more broadly 

 edged with white, ends of greater and middle coverts 

 white or rosy, forming conspicuous wing-bars. 

 Tail like wings, with narrow edgings like those 

 of primaries. Bill blackish, with or without paler 

 base beh>w; feet blackish. Length about 8.50; 

 wing 4.50 or more ; tail 4.00. 9 • Ashy-gray, 



paler below; feathers of the back with darker cen- p,^ 207 - Pine Grosbeak, reduced (Shep- 

 tres, those of head, rump, and fore parts generally parddel. Nichols sc.) 



skirted with a saffron or yellowish color, very variable in extent and tint, from dull gamboge- 

 yellow to olive-orange, or rusty-orange, or even reddish ; in some specimens crown and rump 

 quite bricky-red. Throat sometimes abruptly paler than surrounding parts. Rather smaller 

 than (J . Young ^ resembles 9 • Northern portions of both hemispheres ; in America, in 

 summer, Alaska, British America and N. border of U. S., the Rocky Mts. to Colorado, and 

 Sierra Nevada to California ; in winter, range extended sometimes to Maryland, Ohio, Illinois 

 and Kansas. Inhabits chiefly coniferous woods, in flocks when not breeding, feeding upon 

 the fruit of such trees. A fine musician, of amiable disposition and gentle manners, often 

 caged. Nest cotnposed of a basement of twigs and rootlets, within which is a more compact 

 fabric of finer materials ; eggs usually 4, pale greenish -blue, spotted and blotched with dark 

 brown surface- markings and lilac shell-spots ; 1.05 X 0.74. 



