THE OOLOGIST. 



11 



The Pine Grosbeak. 



By a. B. Klugh, Sec'y Wellington 



Field Naturalists' Club, 



GuELPH, Ont. 



On Nov. 5th '03 large flocks of Fine 

 Grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator cana- 

 densis) arrived and since that date up 

 to the present (Dec. 15) they have been 

 common. 



Here this bird is an irregular winter 

 visitor, but this year is apparently 

 competing for a place as a winter resi- 

 dent. 



These flocks have been composed 

 mostly of females and immature males, 

 the former in their smoky-gray uni- 

 form with orange on head and rumps, 

 the latter showing all graduations of 

 plumage from that of the female to 

 the adult male. 



The adult male is a remarkably 

 handsome bird, having the head, 

 breast and rump of bright carmine 

 pink and the feathers of the back edged 

 with the same color. When seen 

 among the conifers, whose branches 

 each bear a burden of snow, he pre- 

 sents a most beautiful picture. 



The chief diet of the Pine Grosbeaks 

 for some time after arriving was the 

 seeds of Solatium dulcamara (Night- 

 shade). They plucked the berries off 

 the vines, and in eating them rejected 

 as much as possible of the fleshy por- 

 tion. A considerable part of their 

 time was spent upon the ground, 

 where they fed on the seeds of Polygo- 

 num hydropiper ( Smartweed ) , and 

 caught insects, which they greatly rel- 

 ishsd. I also noted them breaking 

 open the galls on the Willow(S. dis- 

 color) and eating the insects within. 

 Another favorite food of theirs appears 

 to be Ambrosia artemisiaefolia (Rag- 

 weed). When feeding on this plant, 

 they hop on to a stalk, which usually 

 bends down with their weight, when 

 they stand upon it and pick off the 

 fruits. W^hile feeding upon the ground. 



the warmth of their feet melts the snow 

 which then adheres to their toes in the 

 form of icicles, and the removal of these 

 with the bill, requires much nipping 

 and tugging, and a sort of gymastic 

 performance. 



A Scotch Cormorant Colony. 



On the 6th of May we cross the wopds 

 to the White Lock ( Wigtownshire) a 

 lake of about 1% miles by X a mile, 

 where Islands have been the breeding 

 ground of Phalacrocorax Car bo as 

 long as I remember. We row out to 

 the first small island, the birds flying 

 off rather wild, there are 73 nests in 

 various stages of building, but very 

 few completed and only 7 eggs. The 

 next island, rather smaller, has only 

 26 nests, but there are 17 eggs, one 

 nest containing 4. We now approach 

 the big "Scart island" as it is named, 

 as quietly as possible and landing at 

 its low end steal up behind a big cairn 

 of stones. The smell of a Cormorant 

 Colony is not soon forgotten, and 

 some of us have recourse to our hand- 

 kerchiefs. The birds here pay us no 

 attention, most are sitting on their 

 nests building round with large hea- 

 ther sticks while others are stealing 

 from their neighbors' nests, near at 

 hand some exciting tugs of war are 

 going on, and many are flying in 

 from the shore with pieces of heather 

 or large sticks in their powerful bills. 

 Now we raise a shout and they all fly 

 off belter skelter, in great confusion, 

 their wings flaying in the water, and 

 then circling round, alight on the wa- 

 ter at some distance. One or two have 

 the presence of mind to take a stick 

 with them. Here are 243 bests and 

 467 eggs, many containing full sets 

 Some are content with a few sticks 

 loosely put together, but the "Marthas" 

 build an elaborate structure l/{ feet 

 high by 22 inches, closely put to- 

 gether, of heavy sticks, well hollowed 

 and lined with dry grass. Some of 



