284 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



across the tips of the greater and middle coverts ; the outer edges of the quills also 

 white, broadest on the tertiaries. 



Female, ashy; brownish above, tinged with greenish-j-cllow beneath ; top of head, 

 rump, and upper tail coverts brownish gamboge-yellow; wings as in the male. 



Length, about eight and til'ty one-hundredths inches; wing, four and fifty one- 

 hundredths; tail, four inches. 



ALTHOUGH we find in Verrill's list of birds found at 

 Norway, Me., that this species is there a very common 

 winter visitor, my experience has been, that it is an ex- 

 tremely rare one in Massachusetts, and is only found with 

 us in very severe seasons. 



This winter (18G6-67), they have been very abundant, 

 and good opportunities have been obtained for studying 

 their habits. 



Like other northern species, the Pine Grosbeak is very 

 tame and familiar while here in winter. Mr. Maynard, of 

 Newton-sille, Mass., informs me, that he has repeatedly, 

 during this season, captured specimens in his hands, and 

 has had no difficulty in slipping a noose ov6r their heads, as 

 the birds were employed in opening the pine seeds, or eating 

 the berries of the cedar ; and he has now in captivity a 

 number of specimens that are exceedingly tame and inter- 

 esting, feeding readily on various seeds and fruits. A pair 

 that I have in my possession, which he captured, are so 

 tame that they take food from my hand, and even perch 

 upon my finger. Their song is -a soft, pleasing warble, not 

 unlike that of the canary. 



Both sexes have a number of call-notes, and they keep up 

 a continuous twitter through the day : they are always lively 

 and good-tempered, and are really entertaining pets. 



Mr. Wheelwright, in his valuable and exceedingly inter- 

 esting book, " A Spring and Summer in Lapland," gives 

 the following account of the habits of the European Pine 

 Grosbeak, a bird nearly allied to, if not identical with, our 

 own : " By the first week in May, they had paired ; and we 

 took our first nest on June 4, with three eggs, in a small fir, 

 about ten feet from the ground, on the side of a small fell, 



