( US ) 



GENUS LINARIA — RAY. 



LINNET. 



[Bill short, stout at the base, compressed toward the end, and tapering to an 

 acute point — nostrils concealed by recumbent feathers, advancing in some spe- 

 cies about half-way the length of the bill ; head rounded, rather small; neck 

 short ; wings and tail rather long, the latter deeply emarginate— tarsi short — 

 feet and toes rather stout.] 



LINARIA PINUS— WILSON. 



PINE LINNET. 



Pine Finch, Fringilla pinus, Wils. Amer. Orn. 

 Fringilla pinus, Bonap Syn. 

 Pine Finch, Fringilla pinus, Nuit. Man 

 Pine Finch, Fringilla pinus, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character — Bill at base stout, tapering to a sharp point ; 

 tail deeply emarginate. Adult with the upper parts yellowish-gray, 

 streaked with black ; feathers on the rump margined with light 

 yellow ; lower parts grayish-white, streaked all over with brown- 

 ish black ; the fore neck tinged with lighter brown ; tail at base 

 yellow, toward the end blackish-brown ; both webs of the basal 

 parts of quills, excepting the outer three, yellow, and the yellow 

 margin wanting on the first. Length four inches and three quar- 

 ters, wing two and seven-eighths. 



At some seasons, this species is very abundant with us ; again, it 

 does not occur, or at most in very small numbers, for several years. 

 It breeds at the North, and only visits us in autumn. Its manner 

 of flying is not unlike that of the common Goldfinch. It frequent- 

 ly alights on the birch trees, from the cones of which it extracts a 

 portion of its sustenance. It associates in large flocks, and in 

 general prefers the open grounds, where it is seen climbing 

 among the rank weeds — often hanging head downward, pecking with 

 its bill, much in the manner of the Titmouse. Sometimes it 

 is observed along the margins of small streams, hopping among 

 the alder-bushes. During winter it resorts to the Pines, the seeds 

 of which, at that season it feeds on. 



