[546] BIRDS OF OREGON 



The Pine Siskin was first listed as an Oregon bird by Bendire (Brewer 

 1875) who took a specimen, December 14, 1874, at Camp Harney. Since 

 that time it has been mentioned many times in the ornithological litera- 

 ture of the State. There are comparatively few nesting records, due 

 perhaps more to lack of egg collectors than to scarcity of birds. Keller 

 (1891 a) wrote as follows regarding nesting near Salem: 



In this section it begins to carry building material about the i5th or latter part of April 

 and fresh eggs may be found as early as May i. It generally nests in fir trees, but nests have 

 been found in both maple and oak trees. They are placed from eight to twenty-five feet 

 from the ground. A set of three eggs before me was taken May 7, 1889. The nest was 

 placed on the end of a fir bough, eight feet up, and composed of fir twigs and grass, and 

 lined with hair. The eggs are pale greenish-blue in color, sparingly spotted near the larger 

 end with reddish-brown and pale lilac, and average .63 x .49 in size. Three eggs seem to 

 be the standard number in a set here for out of several taken (among which two sets were 

 incubated) none of them contained over three eggs. 



Stryker (1894) found a nest at Milwaukie, containing 4 eggs, that was 

 40 feet up in a fir tree, but he did not give the date. Neither of us has 

 found a nest, although we have both taken fledglings barely able to fly. 

 This siskin is one of the commonest of the resident species of the coniferous 

 timber, and special efforts directed toward finding its nest would, with- 

 out doubt, result in success in almost any section of the State. 



Pale Goldfinch: 



Spinus tristis fallidus Mearns 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male in summer: Whole body canary yellow, in sharp contrast 

 to black crown, wings, and tail; wings with white bars and tail feathers with white 

 patches. Adult female in summer: upper parts olive brown, sometimes tinged with 

 green or gray; wings and tail dull blackish brown; white markings duller; under 

 parts grayish white, more or less tinged with yellow. Adult male in winter: similar 

 to female in summer, but wings and tail black, broadly and clearly marked with 

 white. Adult female in winter: similar to summer plumage, but more tinged with 

 brownish, white markings broader and more tinged with buffy. Young: similar to 

 winter adults, but browner, wing markings and general suffusion cinnamon; shoulder 

 patch mixed with black instead of unicolored as in the male. Male: length (skins) 

 4.30-5.09, wing z. 81-3. 08, tail i. 71-1. 05, bill .38--43. Female: length (skins) 4.42.- 

 5.00, wing z. 71-1.92., tail 1.70-1.03, bill .39-. 44." (Bailey) Nest: A neat cup of 

 plant fibers, lined with thistle down and other similar material. Eggs: 3 to 5, plain 

 bluish or bluish white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from southeastern British Columbia and Manitoba 

 south to central Nevada and Colorado. Winters south into Mexico. In Oregon: 

 Common permanent resident east of Cascades. 



THE PALE GOLDFINCH is a common permanent resident of the lower 

 valleys east of the Cascade Mountains. It is most conspicuous in the 

 valleys around the base of the Blue Mountains and those along the 

 Columbia and Snake Rivers, although it is found in all other parts of 



