BIRD VISITORS FROM THE NORTHLAND 



105 



pine siskin is a bird of the woods and feeds on seeds of 

 such trees as the birch and alder. It is very irregular 

 in its visits, sometimes occurring in immense flocks and 

 again during some winters being entirely absent. When 

 it visits a locality it usually remains much later than most 

 of our winter birds, often into May and sometimes early 

 June, and at these times the males break into a very 

 musical little song. 



Everyone knows the chipping sparrow, the familiar 

 little chestnut-crowned bird of the dooryard and the 

 vines. But in the winter chippy has departed for a so- 

 journ in the Gulf States or Mexico, and in his stead we 

 have his cousin the tree sparrow, which is a little larger 

 than chippy and has a blackish spot in the middle of its 

 breast. The summer home of the tree sparrow is in 

 Labrador and in the region west of Hudson Bay. The 

 tree sparrow is often abundant in shrubbery at the 

 borders of fields, and feeds almost entirely on weed-seed. 

 During the winter the tree sparrow utters a musical 

 callnote and in the spring, just before the flocks leave for 

 the north the males may be heard pouring forth a loud, 

 clear and powerful song. 



A bird which attracts attention whenever it appears is 

 the pine grosbeak. In this species the adult male is red 

 with brown wings and tail, and two white bars on the 

 wings. The female is smoky gray with the top of the 

 head and the rump tinged with orange, and the young 

 male is also smoky gray with reddish on the head and 

 rump. The bill is short and heavy hence the name 

 grosbeak. The adult male is not infrequently mistaken 

 by superficial observers for a robin, and often reports of 

 the very early arrival of "robins" are thus circulated in 

 the press. 



The pine grosbeak usually appears in small flocks con- 

 sisting of two or three adult males and a dozen or so 

 females and young, but occasionally flocks of from fifty 

 to over a hundred are seen. These flocks as a rule re- 

 main in a locality for several days, feeding on the ber- 

 ries of the mountain ash, and nightshade, and on the 

 buds of the maple and spruce. In some winters this 

 species may be common in a given locality from Novem- 

 ber until April, as soon as one flock passes on its place 

 being taken by fresh arrivals from the north. On the 

 other hand it is often absent for several years in suc- 

 cession. 



The pine grosbeak breeds in northern New Bruns- 

 wick, Labrador, in the territory round Hudson Bay, and 

 westward to Alaska. The nest is placed in a coniferous 

 tree and is built of twigs and fine grass, the eggs being 

 pale blue, spotted with lavendar, drab and sepia. 



During the winter the pine grosbeak as a rule only 

 utters its clear call note of three syllables, but when the 

 flocks remain late in the spring the males may be heard 

 singing a rich warbling song. 



A much rarer visitor than the pine grosbeak is the 

 evening grosbeak. This species has a very heavy bill 

 and is needed "uncou' thick i' the neb" as the Scotchman 



said of it. The adult male is a very striking bird, being 

 greenish yellow with a blackish crown, black wings and 

 tail, and a large white patch on the wing. The females 

 and young are brownish gray above and dingy yellow 

 beneath, and lack the large wing-patch. 



The evening grosbeak breeds in the northern Canadian 

 Rockies, and in its winter migrations it comes south and 

 east as far as Ohio, New York, and the New England 

 States. These flights vary greatly as to extent and the 

 numbers present. In some winters, as in 191 5-16, large 

 flights occur and extend over a wide territory, then 

 often for many years the birds are not seen. 



This species in the winter feeds on the seeds of the 

 Manitoba maple, the berries of the mountain ash, and 

 various buds, and its powerful bill enables it to crack 

 even such hard objects as the stones of cherries. 



The evening grosbeak, coming from uninhabited re- 

 gions, has but little fear of man, and many people who 

 do not usually pay much attention to birds are struck 

 by the tameness of this species. 



Very peculiar birds in several respects are the Ameri- 

 can crossbill and the white-winged crossbill. The struc- 

 ture of the bill is unique, the mandibles crossing each 

 other and thus forming a very efficient implement for 

 removing the seeds from between the closed scales of the 

 cones of evergreens. There is no definite rule as to the 

 manner in which the mandibles cross, the lower mandi- 

 ble may be to the right or to the left of the upper mandi- 

 ble, it is entirely a matter of chance. A second peculiarity 

 is the irregularity in their breeding season, which may 

 be at the end of January or which may be delayed until 

 as late as August, and a third peculiarity is that they may 

 breed in a certain locality during one season and then 

 may not nest there again for some years. 



In the American crossbill the adult male is red with 

 black wings and tail, while the female and young are 

 olive-green with yellow rump and underparts. This 

 species breeds in Maine, New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia and westward to Alaska. It is erratic in its 

 winter distribution, and sometimes goes as far south as 

 Georgia and Louisiana. 



The adult male of the white-winged crossbill is rose- 

 pink with black wings and tail ; the female and young 

 are olive-green with yellower rump and abdomen. Males, 

 females and young all have two white wing-bars. This 

 species nests in Labrador, Newfoundland, northern New 

 England, northern Michigan, and west to Alaska, and in 

 its winter migrations goes as far south as Virginia, 

 Illinois and Nevada. 



Both species feed mainly on the seeds of coniferous 

 trees and while feeding they keep up a cheerful twittering 

 chorus. 



Other winter visitors from the north are the snowy owl, 

 the northern shrike, a gray bird about the size of a 

 robin with a hooked bill, and the Bohemian waxwing, a 

 cinnamon-brown bird with a crest and a white bar on 

 the wing. 



