286 Allen, Nestingoj the Pine Finch in Southern New York. [October 



eggs were, however, secured without accident, the nest was 

 removed in situ by taking with it the supporting branch ; the male 

 joined his mate in her distress and both were shot and, with 

 the nest and eggs, added to the oological rarities of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, where, in due time, they will form 

 one of the attractive 'Bird Groups' of the exhibition collection. 



The four eggs measure (in millimetres) as follows: 18 X 12.5, 

 18 X 12, 18 X 12, 17 X 11. The ground color is pale bluish white 

 in all, but the markings vary greatly. In one the greater part of 

 the surface is marked with sharply-defined dots and specks of 

 dark reddish brown, but more thickly aggregated about the lar- 

 ger end. In another the spots are larger, fewer and paler, and 

 more vinaceous in tint, and are mostly on one side of the egg 

 near the larger end. In a third the markings, which nearly cover 

 and are mostly confined to the larger end, are pale, not well 

 defined, and vinaceous brown ; beside these are several conspicu- 

 ous blotches of blackish brown, the largest of which is near the 

 larger end of the egg. In the remaining egg the markings form a 

 single narrow streak of sienna brown nearly encircling the egg 

 at its thickest point ; it begins in a coarse blotch of blackish 

 brown, from which proceeds a narrow line encircling the egg^ 

 becoming narrower and paler as it advances, and finally quite 

 indistinct, it much resembling the narrow pencillings seen in the 

 eggs of many Orioles. This egg in respect to markings is as 

 different from the egg first described as are the eggs of the Field 

 Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow. 



The nest is well-built, neat, and compact, and quite large for 

 the size of the bird. It measures 57 mm. (2J inches) in inside 

 diameter, 90 mm. (3J inches) in outside diameter, and 37 

 mm. (ij inches) in depth (inside measurement). The base of 

 the nest is formed of string, thread, a long piece of tape, and 

 rootlets woven into the pine needles on which it rests, some of 

 the strings and the tape being looped about and bound to the 

 clusters of needles. On this rests a cup-shaped structure of 

 coarse and fine rootlets and soft vegetable fibre, lined with black 

 horse-hair. 



The nest found by Dr. A. K. Fisher at Sing Sing, N. Y. 

 (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VIII, 1SS3, p. 180), and the one found 

 at Cambridge, Mass., in May, 1S59, are, so far as I am aware, 

 the only recorded instances of the breeding of this species south 

 of the Canadian Fauna. 



