I02 PINE GROSBEAK 



without effect. A new one which I have adopted this year is 

 somewhat more complex. In addition to the straw bands, I have 

 stretched long strings, with feathers attached here and there, so 

 as to resemble the tail of a paper kite ; and, by way of offering 

 them an inducement to stay away, I have sprinkled peas on the 

 ground in an adjoining lane, in the hope that they will partially, 

 at least, satisfy their hunger on these. A bird with so strong a 

 beak as that of the Bullfinch is evidently designed to crush its 

 food, not to swallow it whole ; accordingly, I find my peas disap- 

 pearing, but the parchment-like rind is left on the ground, a sub- 

 stance too indigestible even for the gizzard of a Bullfinch. This bird 

 has, however, justly many friends, who assert that the buds he attacks 

 are infested with concealed insects, and that the tree he strips one 

 season will be heavily laden the following year. When not occupied 

 in disbudding fruit-trees. Bullfinches are most frequently observed 

 in tall and thick hedges, either in small flocks as described above, 

 or in pairs. They are rarely met with singly, and yet less fre- 

 quently associated with birds of another species. Occasionally 

 a pair may be seen feeding with Sparrows and Chafiinches in the 

 farmyard ; but this society seems one of accident rather than of 

 choice. When disturbed in a hedge they are singularly methodical 

 in their movements : first one flies out, bounds, as it were through 

 the air in a direction away from the spectator, perches on a twig in 

 the thick part of the hedge, and is followed by the rest of the party 

 in single file. When the passenger has approached within what 

 the bird considers a safe distance, the same manoeuvre is repeated, 

 each bird following, with dipping flight, the line marked out by its 

 predecessor. 



PINE GROSBEAK 



PYRRHULA ENUCLEATOR 



Head and upper parts of the neck reddish orange, streaked on the back with 

 dusky ; wings and tail black, the former with two white bars, the pri- 

 maries and tail-feathers edged with orange, the secondaries with white 

 under parts orange-yellow. Length seven and a quarter inches. Eggs 

 white. 



A LARGE and handsome bird, inhabiting the Arctic regions during 

 the summer months, and in winter descending a few degrees to the 

 south in both hemispheres. It is of very rare occurrence in the 

 pine-forests of Scotland, and a still more unfrequent visitor to 

 England. The Pine Grosbeak, or Pine Bullfinch, is a bird of sociable 

 habits, and an agreeable songster. 



