SPECIES 8. FRINGILLA PINUS. 



PINE FINCH. 

 [Plate XVIL Fig. 1.] 



PE ALE'S Museum, No. 6577. 



THIS little northern stranger visits us in the month of No- 

 vember, and seeks the seeds of the black alder, on the borders 

 of swamps, creeks and rivulets. As the weather becomes more 

 severe, and the seeds of the Pinus canadensis are fully ripe, 

 these birds collect in larger flocks and take up their residence, 

 almost exclusively, among these trees. In the gardens of Bush- 

 hill, in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, a flock of two or 

 three hundred of these birds have regularly wintered many 

 years; where a noble avenue of pine trees, and walks covered 

 with fine white gravel, furnish them with abundance through 

 the winter. Early in March they disappear, either to the north, 

 or to the pine woods that cover many lesser ranges of the Al- 

 leghany. While here they are often so tame as to allow you to 

 walk within a few yards of the spot where a whole flock of 

 them are sitting. They flutter among the branches, frequently 

 hanging by the cones, and uttering a note almost exactly like 

 that of the Goldfinch (F. tristis). I have not a doubt but this 

 bird appears in a richer dress in summer in those places where 

 he breeds, as he has so very great a resemblance to the bird 

 above mentioned, with whose changes we are well acquainted. 



The length of this species is four inches, breadth eight inches; 

 upper part of the head, the neck and back, a dark flaxen colour, 

 streaked with black; wings black, marked with two rows of 

 dull white or cream colour; whole wing quills, under the cov- 

 erts, rich yellow, appearing even when the wings are shut; 

 rump and tail coverts yellowish, streaked with dark brown; tail 



VOL, II, H h 



