142 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 88 



thirty of these small migrants greeted me for a week or ten 

 days each morning as I stood waiting for my car. They Avere 

 between 4i/4 and 5 inches in length. The bird might easily 

 be mistaken for the Goldfinch dressed in his winter suit, as 

 its flight is very mnch like the Goldfinch. But the difference 

 in the song makes the identification comparatively easy. 

 When my young friend visited me the evening of April 13 

 and told me of the nest, I asked him what the birds looked 

 like and he said "summer canaries." In answer to my ques- 

 tion regarding their feeding habits, he replied that they 

 seemed to eat ' ' pine cones. ' ' Having my interest thus aroused, 

 I went with him to the Colorado Blue spruce {Picea pugens) 

 tree in the yard and near the end of a limb about nine feet 

 from the ground was the nest. Getting a box upon which to 

 stand, I could look over into the nest and see the bird. 1 had 

 no difficulty in satisfying myself that it was the same bird 

 that had so gloriously entertained me two or three weeks pre- 

 viously. I approached the nest with my hand, pulling aside 

 the branches, and my hand was within six inches of the nest 

 before the young housekeeper hopped to a branch no more 

 than three inches the other side of her artistic home. This 

 lack of fear seemed to be a characteristic of the bird, as she 

 would remain on the nest when approached, no matter how 

 often, but, when flushed, would return very promptly after the 

 intruder withdrew. When the nest was first discovered April 

 13 it contained three eggs. These were greenish white, speckled 

 with reddish brown. My young friend placed a basin of fresh 

 water under the tree, which both male and female used as a 

 bath tub and drinking fountain. But they were not tempted 

 by the tray of bread crumbs that was invitingly placed by 

 the basin of water, seemingly satisfied with the bill of fare 

 furnished by the seeds of old and young pine cones on the 

 tree. Only one of the eggs hatched, but this one bird was 

 tenderly reared and was seen no more after May 5, Pre- 

 sumably it left with its fond parents for the far North on 

 that date and is now being shown off to admiring relatives 

 as an example as to just what the delightful spring air of 

 Northwest Iowa can do for young Pine Siskins. 



