370 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



until the song of the male has been heard. Soft, tender, ven- 

 triloquial and caressing at times, at others rising clear and 

 loud but always full of trills and warbles, the song of the Pine 

 Grosbeak easily places it on equal footing with any of our 

 song birds. 



Again, tame though the birds always are, one never knows 

 the real loveliness of their character until he has studied them 

 close at hand for a protracted period as was my privilege for 

 about seven years. In captivity the male sings almost con- 

 tinuously during the morning hours and more or less during 

 the whole day in the spring months, and though not quite as 

 full of music at other seasons there is hardly a day in the 

 year but that my captive birds sang more or less. A brief 

 account of my experience with some captive birds is reprinted 

 herewith, being taken from The Auk for January, 1896. 



" The winter of 1892-93 will be long remembered by Maine 

 ornithologists on account of the great number of Pine Grosbeaks 

 (^Pinkola enucleator) which visited this State. November 16, 

 1892, I noticed two or three individuals feeding on seeds of 

 the white ash near Orono, Me. December 25 a flock of about 

 two hundred individuals appeared in the yard of a friend in 

 Bangor and began to feed upon the seeds of crab-apples of 

 which a large quantity remained on the leafless trees in his 

 yard. He at once sent word to me, and I was soon on the spot. I 

 determined to catch a pair of the birds and see if they could 

 be induced to breed in captivity. 



A horse hair slip noose was speedily arranged at the end of 

 a bean pole, and with this crude apparatus I essayed to capture 

 the birds, which were very tame. They would sit quietly 

 engaged in feeding, while I slipped the noose over one's head 

 and hauled it from its perch on the tree. The remainder of 

 the flock did not seem to take any notice of the queer antics 

 of their captured comrade, which uttered loud, harsh cries when 

 handled while the noose was being removed from its neck. 

 In this way about twenty females and young males were cap- 



