BIRDS OK 



tiit'n of the bird we have been describinff. 1 jK)inted out the beauty 

 of its markings and related the interesting parts in its liistory, 

 but failed to excite any enthusiasm regarding it ; in fact the 

 only remark elicited was that it was " unca thick i' the neb." 



Gknus PINICOLA Vikillot. 

 20ft. PINTCOLA ENUCLEATOR (Linn.). 51.0. 



Pine Grosbeak. 



Mule carinine-reci, paler or wliitish on the belly, darker and streaked 

 with dusky on the back ; wings and tail dusky, much edged with white, the 

 former with two white bars. Feir.ale, ashy-gray, paler below, marked with 

 brownish-yellow on the head and rump. Length, 8-g ; wing, 4J ; tail, 4. 



Hab. Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere, breeding far 

 north ; in winter south, in North America, irregularly to the northern 

 United States. South in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado, and in the 

 Sierra Nevada to California. 



Nest, in a bush, four feet from the ground ; composed entirely of coarse 

 green moss. 



Eggs, 2 ; slate-color, tinged with green, spotted and clouded with brown 

 and purple. 



In Southern Ontario the Pine Grosbeak is an irregular 

 winter visitor, sometimes appearing in large flocks and again 

 being entirely absent for several years in succession. During 

 the winter of 1882-3, and also 1883-4, they were quite common 

 and were observed throughout the country wherever their 

 favorite red cedar or mountain ash berries were to be found, 

 but since that time not one has been seen. They are fine, 

 robust birds of a most sociable, gentle disposition. I have often 

 watched them feeding in flocks, sometimes in places where 

 food was not over abundant, but never noticed a quarrel among 

 them, all being willing to share alike. 



Very many of the individuals which visit us are 

 females or young males clad in a uniform garb of smoky-gray, 

 more or less tinged with greenish-yellow, but in every flock of 

 twenty or thirty there are two or three adult males in the 

 showy crimson dress, wliich, when seen with a background of 



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