12 



73. Chrysomitris pinus (Wilson'). PINE GOLDFINCH; PINE 

 LINNET. An occasional winter visitant; sometimes a winter resident, 

 and abundant. 



In 1874 the Pine Linnets were found in the hemlocks, feeding upon 

 the cones, as early as October 16. They were frequently met with 

 throughout the winter in large flocks in the alder swamps, accompany- 

 ing flocks of Ked-poll Linnets. Since then I have only seen them on 

 two occasions: in Lewis County, N. Y., January 1, 1878; and on 

 February 6 (same year), when they were numerous at Fort Montgom- 

 ery (four miles south of Highland Falls), associating and feeding with 

 large flocks of Yellowbirds (Chrysomitris tristis') upon the cones of the 

 hemlock. 



A specimen was taken by Mr. Frederic S. Osborn at Garrisons, 

 October 17, 1874 ; and Mr. William C. Osborn took specimens there 

 on November 16, 1878. Mr. Theodore Koosevelt took it August 27, 

 1874, in Franklin County, N. Y. 1 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam's notice of the "Breeding of the Pine Linnet 

 in Northern New York," published in the "Forest and Stream and 

 Rod and Gun" (Vol. X, No. 24, p. 463, July 18, 1878), is so interesting 

 that I cannot forbear transcribing it entire: "Few birds are more 

 erratic in their habits than the siskin or pine linnet. Occurring to- 

 day, perhaps, in such numbers that one soon tires of shooting them, 

 they are gone on the morrow, and years may elapse before one is 

 seen again. There is, in their melancholy che-a, uttered at intervals 

 as small flocks pass in short, waving swoops, far overhead, something 

 sadly suggestive of the cold bleak winds that sweep their northern 

 homes. Yet they are warmly clad, and seem rather to enjoy the 

 wintry blasts that compel most birds to seek a milder clime ; and their 

 roaming movements are apparently governed more by some idiosyn- 

 crasy in their roving dispositions, and abundance or scarcity of food, 

 than by the severity of the season in the region from which they 

 came. 



During the past winter and spring they literally swarmed in Lewis 

 County, N. Y., and thousands of them bred throughout the heavy 

 evergreen forests east of Black River, while many scattered pairs 

 nested in suitable hemlock and balsam swamps in the middle district. 

 They breed remarkably early, and construct large, compact nests, 

 which are usually placed high up on some hemlock or spruce, and 

 well concealed from view. I know of no nest, of equal size, so hard 

 to find. After days of patient search in the evergreen swamps of 

 this vicinity (Locust Grove), Mr. Bagg and myself discovered but a 



1 The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, N. Y. By Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt, Jr., and H. D. Minot. 



