THE PINE GBOSBEAK. 83 



FAMILY FRINGILLID^. THE SEED-EATEKS. 



Primaries nine; bill very short, abruptly conical and robust; commissure strongly 

 angulated at base of bill ; tarsi scutellate anteriorly, but the sides with two undivided 

 plates meeting behind along the median line, as a sharp posterior ridge. 



Sub-Family COCCOTHRAUSTINJE. The Finches. 



Wings very long and much pointed, generally one-third longer than the more or 

 less forked tail ; first quill usually nearly as long or longer than the second ; ter- 

 tiaries but little longer, or equal to the secondaries, and always much exceeded by 

 the primaries; bill very variable in shape and size, the upper mandible, however, as 

 broad as the lower; nostrils rather more lateral than usual, and always more or less 

 concealed by a series of small bristly feathers applied along the base of the upper 

 mandible; no bristles at the base of the bill; feet short and rather weak; hind claw 

 usually longer than the middle anterior one, sometimes nearly the same size. 



PINICOLA, VIEILLOT. 



Pinicola, VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept., I. (1807). 



Bill short, nearly as high as long, upper outline much curved from the base ; the 

 margins of the mandibles rounded ; the commissure gently concave, and abruptly 

 deflexed at the tip; base of the upper mandible much concealed by the bristly feath- 

 ers covering the basal third ; tarsus rather shorter than the middle toe ; lateral toe 

 short, but their long claws reach the base of the middle one, which is longer than 

 the hind claw ; wings moderate, the first quill rather shorter than the second, third, 

 and fourth ; tail rather shorter than the wings, nearly even. 



But one species of this genus belongs to the American fauna, and is closely allied 

 to, if not identical with, that belonging to the northern portions of the, Old World. 



PINICOLA CANADENSIS Cabanis. 

 The Pine Grosbeak. 



Pinicola Canadensis, Cabanis. Mus. Hein. (1851), 167. 

 Loxia enucleator, Wilson. Am. Orn., I. (1808) 80. 

 Pyrrhula enudeat&r, Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 414. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill and legs black ; general color carmine-red, not continuous above, however, 

 except on the head ; the feathers showing brownish centres on the back, where, too, 

 the red is darker ; loral region, base of lower jaw all round, sides and posterior part 

 of body, with under tail coverts, ashy, whitest behind ; wing with two white bands 



