FA/1ILY Fringillldae. 



When the Redpoll appears as it frequently does in small 

 flocks during the winter months and the flock takes winn 

 upon the arrival of some intruder, there is a whirr of feath- 

 ers and a chorus of chirps or twitters closely resembling 

 those of the Chimney Swallow but much more musical in 

 tone a series of reiterated notes. 



Pine Siskin The Pine Siskin or Pine Finch is a boreal 

 ^"incite** s P ecies which ^ a winter visitant of the Now 

 October isth England States, New York, New Jersey, and 

 to flay aoth indeed, erratically, of all the United States. 

 The years of its most remarkable migrations 

 were 1882, '86, '91, '98, 1901, '09, and '19. Like the American 

 Crossbill its visits are very irregular. A similar-appearing 

 bird to the Goldfinch in his duller winter costume, but 

 rather plumper and shorter. The upper parts gray brown 

 sharply streaked with umber brown, the bases of the tail 

 and wing feathers light yellow, except the middle tail 

 feathers which are all brown, the under parts dull white 

 tinged with buff and streaked with sepia, the.wing bars dull 

 white. Nest of twigs and mosses lined with plant down, 

 fur, and hair,podged in a hemlock, spruce, or other conifer, 

 about twenty to thirty feet above the ground. The range 

 of this species is from southern Alaska to southern Ungava 

 south to Nova Scotia and through the mountains to North 

 Carolina, to Northern Michigan, and again through the 

 mountains to southern California and New Mexico; it 

 nests in abundant numbers in the coniferous forests of 

 northern New England and New York, and casually in the 

 hill country of Massachusetts, and the southern Hudson 

 Valley. It is frequently seen in the company of Crossbills 

 and Redpolls, feeding on the seeds of hemlocks, pines, and 

 spruces. 



The call note of the Pine Siskin is identical with that of 

 the Goldfinch (which is also like that of the Canary), a 

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