470 pi:ne goldfinch: 



Ef/rjs, fmir in number, liluisli-wliito in ccildV, sp;ircely dotted and lined with black. DimenfiioiLs, from '05 s '45 to 

 71 X -50. 



HABITS, 



Ncai- the hanks of the Miami River, not far from Fort Dalhis was a small spring. It 

 was overarched by guava trees, which had grown wild from lack of cultivation, while a 

 convolvulus had hung its verdant, flower-starred festoons from the branches. Giant ferns. 

 witli liroudly pinnated fronds, five feet in length, grew on the margin and rank grassc} 

 waved beside them. Thus the spai'kling waters were sun-ounded by a luxuriant vegctu' 

 tion, never seen in the North, yet there was room beneath for the birds to find a conven- 

 ient batliing place. The Goldfinches soon found it, oven though it did present a very differ- 

 ent aspect from the willow-margined brooks, to which they had been accustomed in a more 

 boi'eal clime, and, when the sun was high, visited the shady nook in flocks. I had long 

 hecn familiar ■with this species in Florida, but I was surprised to hear the call note of tJie 

 Pine Finch so far from its usual range. There were but a few, however, and they did not 

 remain very long. 



The Pine Goldfinch, like the preceding species, is very irregular in its migrations, 

 and the instance related above is the only one which has come under my observation of its 

 occurrence anywlicre in Florida. Even in Massachusods i( is not found regularly in any 

 numbers; for example, during the winter of 185'J- GO it was abundant but was not com- 

 mon again until 18C8, when it remained until the following June. When in New Eng- 

 land it feeds largely on birch and fir seeds, thus is not dependent upon weeds whicli are 

 often covered with snow. Its migrations are therefore regulated solely by the food sup- 

 ply, and when the seed crop, of tlio trees mentioned, iails it moves southward in search of 

 other means of sustenance. 



As sjtring advan;'es the Pine Finch retreats to the evergreen fin-ests of the mountain- 

 ous districts where it is much more at home titan in the cultivated sections. They l>reed 

 in these wihl, elevated, regions; Mr. Ridgway's nest, already described, was found in the 

 Wahsatcli Mountains at an altitude of 'JOdJI feet. It was placed on the horizontal limb of 

 a fir, twenty feet from the ground. This was taken June 23, l)ut as Mr. Brewster found 

 it In-eeding at the White Mountains, New Hampshire, in August, it is extremely probable 

 that this species, like the Goldfinch, is obliged to await the ripening of certain seeds before 

 .'ittempting to rear its young, which will account for local variation in the time of nesting. 



The call notes and song of the Pine Finch are quite similar to those of the preceding 

 species, but have such a peculiar, husky, intonation that they may be readily distinguished 

 at all times. 



• GENUS TV. .Jt:.\T(). Tire SXOW DIRDS. 



Oen. Cn. Bill, pointed. Wings, quite long. Tail, xli/z/illi/ forhrd, liul with the outer feather.^ a little. shorter' than the 

 ethers. Coracmds, shorter than the top of keel, which ix sninrwhirf hij/lur than one half the width of sternum. Size, not 

 very small. 



All the.«peeies are dull in color, unstreaked, alxiv.- nr IvLiw, in the ailult staj;e (.f jjluraago. The outer tail feathers 

 i.. J always white. 



There is scarcely a genas, througjiout tlie entire Family, where the species so completely intergrade, in some stages of 

 pliimago, as the present; intleed it i.s extremely difficult t,i d,'( id>^ wlietlier some should be considered as species or only a.s 



