214 FRINGILLID^ : FINCHES. 



Family FRINGILLID^ : Finches. 

 pine grosbeak. 



PiNICOLA ENUCLEATOR {L.) Cab. 



Chars. Adult male : Carmine-red, paler or whitish on the belly, 

 streaked with blackish on the back ; wings and tail dusky, with 

 whitish edging, the former also with two white cross-bars. Bill 

 and feet blackish. P'emale : Ashy-gray, paler below, marked with 

 brownish-yellow on the head and rump. There is great differ- 

 ence in the shade of red of the male, and in the saffron markings 

 of the female. It is one of the largest of our FringillidcB, with a 

 remarkably short, stout bill, convex in all its outlines, and over- 

 hanging tip of upper mandible — almost parrot-like. Length, 

 8.00-9.00; extent, about 14.00 ; wing, 4.50 ; tail, 4.00 ; bill, 0.50 ; 

 tarsus, 0.90. 



Resident in northern New England, elsewhere a 

 migrant and a winter visitant. There is no question 

 that this large and handsome Grosbeak breeds in some 

 parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, though 

 the fact remains to be established by actual discovery 

 of a properly identified nest. A nest with two eggs, 

 found by Mr. Boardman at Calais, was supposed with 

 reason to belong to this bird. Mr. Purdie informs me 

 that he saw birds feeding their young in New Hamp- 

 shire, the last of July ; and Mr. Brewster has described 

 the earliest plumage of the male from a specimen shot 

 at Upton, Me., August 27th, 1874. Like species of 

 Loxia^ y^giothus, and Plcctro^haiics, the boreal bird 



