PINE SISKIN. 309 



for their heads, traps have been advertised warranted to catch them 

 by the hundred, poison has been recommended and used for their 

 destruction, and at all agricultural meetings it has been voted that 

 the sparrow "must go." But he has not gone yet, except in small 

 colonies to occupy new territory, and he is on the increase wherever 

 established. 



The Department of Agriculture at Washington has issued a most 

 exhaustive report of over 400 pages, giving the most ample and 

 circumstantial details of the history and habits of the bird in this 

 and other countries, all tending to show the injury it causes to agri- 

 culture in all its branches, and how much would be saved by our 

 being rid of it ; but, taking my eyes from the report and looking at 

 the birds outside my window, there is something in their manner 

 which tells me they are here to stay, and we may as well make up 

 our minds to it. We have recently had occasion to change our ideas 

 regarding our relation to the hawks and owls, who, from being 

 looked upon as enemies, are now, with one or two exceptions) 

 believed to be our best friends. 



Some such change may yet take place in our feelings toward the 

 Sparrow, but at present I see no indications of it. 



SPINUS PINUS (WiLS.). 

 221. Pine Siskin. (533) 



Bill, extremely acute ; continuously streaked above with dusky and 

 olivaceous-brown or flaxen ; below, with dusky and whitish, the whole plumage 

 in the breeding season more or less suffused with yellowish, particularly 

 bright on the rump ; the bases of the quills and tail feathers extensively 

 sulphury-yellow, and all these feathers more or less edged externally with 

 yellowish. Length, 4| ; wing, 2J ; tail, If. 



Hab. — North America generally, breeding mostly north of the United States 

 and in the Rocky Mountain region, in winter, south to the (lulf States and 

 Mexico. 



Nest, placed high in an evergreen. It is composed of dry grass and pine 

 needles with a lining of feathei-s. 



Eggs, pale greenish-blue, speckled with brown. 



The Siskin, or Pine Linnet, is a more northern bird than the 

 Goldfinch, and as a winter visitor in Southern Ontario is sometimes 

 present and sometimes absent. Occasionally they appear in October 

 in large flocks, swarming on the rank weeds in waste places, and 



