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When the Redpoll appears as it frequently does in small 
flocks during the winter months and the flock takes wing 
upon the arrival of some intruder, there is a whirr of feath- 
ers and a chorus of chirps or twitters closely resembling 
those of the Chimney Swallow but much more musical in 
tone—a series of reiterated notes. 
Pine Siskin The Pine Siskin or Pine Finch is a boreal 
a Decne “S species which is a winter visitant of the New 
Octohex isth England States, New York, New Jersey, and 
toMay 20th __ indeed, erratically, of all the United States. 
The years of its most remarkable migrations 
were 1882,’86,’91,’98, 1901,’09, and’19. Like the American 
Crossbill its visits are very irregular. A similar-appearing 
bird to the Goldfinch in his duller winter costume, but 
rather plumper and shorter. The upper parts gray brown 
sharply streaked with umber brown, the bases of the tail 
and wing feathers light yellow, except the middle tail 
feathers which are all brown, the under parts dull white 
{tinged with buff and streaked with sepia, the wing bars dull 
white. Nest of twigs and mosses lined with plant down, 
fur, and hair,{lodged in a hemlock, spruce, or other conifer, 
about twenty to thirty feet above the ground. The range 
of this species is from southern Alaska to southern Ungava 
south to Nova Scotia and through the mountains to North 
Carolina, to Northern Michigan, and again through the 
mountains to southern California and New Mexico; it 
nests in abundant numbers in the coniferous forests of 
northern New England and New York, and casually in the 
hill country of Massachusetts, and the southern Hudson 
Valley. It is frequently seen in the company of Crossbills 
and Redpolls, feeding on the seeds of hemlocks, pines, and 
spruces. 
The call note of the Pine Siskin is identical with that of 
the Goldfinch (which is also like that of the Canary), a 
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