TEE PINE GROSSSEAK. 203 



THE PINE GROSSBEAK, 



(Loxia emicteator.} 



PLATE XIII. FIGURE I. 



THIS species is a native of Norway, Sweden, Russia, Siberia, and 

 Lapland, and is sometimes met with in France, Germany, and Italy. 

 It is also found in the northern parts of the American Continent. 

 To this country it is but an occasional visitor. A flight was observed 

 on Yarmouth Denes in November, 1822, and Messrs. Gurney and 

 Fisher, in their " Account of the Birds found in Norfolk/' state that 

 in two instances individuals attempted to breed in that county. In 

 the first of these cases, the nest, containing four eggs, was said to 

 have been found on the branch of a fir tree, at a height of about 

 three feet from the ground. In the second, the pair of old birds 

 were shot while in the act of building. Other specimens were met 

 with at Harrow-on-the-Hill, in Middlesex, and Hutton, in Lancashire. 

 In Scotland, Pennant says he saw these birds flying above the great 

 forests of Invercauld, in Aberdeenshire, as early as the 5th. of August. 

 The late W. Thompson, Esq., of Belfast, stated that one was shot at 

 Cavehill, in December, 1819. 



This bird, frequently called the Pine Bullfinch, very closely resembles 

 the Common Bullfinch in the shape of its beak and its general form. 

 Audubon, the great American ornithologist, who met with it in New- 

 foundland, on the coast of Labrador, and at Hudson's Bay, says, 

 " The flight of the Pine Grossbeak is undulating and smooth, performed 

 in a direct line when it is migrating, at a considerable height above 

 the forest, and in groups of from five to ten individuals. They alight 

 frequently during the day, on such trees as are opening their buds or 

 blossoms. At such times they are exceedingly gentle, and easily ap- 

 proached. They are exceedingly fond of bathing, and whether on tho 

 ground or on branches, move by short leaps. I have been much 

 surprised to see, on my having fired, those that were untouched fly 

 directly towards me until within a few feet, and then slide off, and 

 alight on the lower branches of the nearest tree, where, standing as 

 erect as little Lawks, they gazed upon me as if I was an object quite 

 new, and of whose nature they were ignorant/' The confiding and 

 unsuspecting nature of these interesting birds causes them to readily 



