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THE OOLOGIST 



The Pine Siskin. 



(Spinus pinus). 



The Pine F'inch is an irregular win- 

 ter visitor in this region. Not a win- 

 ter passes but a few flocks are about 

 and at irregular intervals large flights 

 occur. They make their appearance 

 in November, and by the first of April 

 have about all departed. 



They are found in flocks in hemlock 

 woods in the mountains and when 

 large flights occur, flocks numbering 

 as high as 200 are to be met with. 

 They feed almost entirely on the small 

 cones of the hemlock and are noisy 

 and restless. They no doubt breed 

 sparingly every season as at different 

 times in summer I have seen small 

 parties of them back in the mountains. 



Previous to this present season I 

 had never found a nest, although a 

 few years ago in April, while fishing 

 in a piece of virgin timber, I saw a 

 siskin on the ground gathering nesting 

 material. I dropped my fish pole 

 and tried to follow her, but quickly 

 lost her in the hemlocks and although 

 I watched and moved about for over 

 an hour, I never got sight of the bird 

 again. 



This past season all through the win- 

 ter, Pine Siskins were abundant, and 

 about the first of April I began to see 

 a great many around town. By the 

 middle of April they were still com- 

 mon near town wherever there were 

 evergreens in cemeteries, groves or 

 patches of woodland. 



April 14th I was surprised to discov- 

 er a pair building in a pine in a lit- 

 tle bunch of pines nearby. I then put 

 in what spare time I had in visits 

 to the nearby patches of evergreens 

 and found plenty of birds, and judg- 

 ing by their actions, most of them mat- 

 ed. 



At this season they were feeding 

 on the young buds of maples, etc., as 

 well as in the conifers. They were 



very noisy and restless and their 

 sharp notes, somewhat like a Gold- 

 finch, could be heard on every hand. 

 The males were in full song and sing- 

 ing constantly. 



Had I the time I could no doubt 

 have found quite a few nests. As it 

 was, I found ten. Five of these I 

 found one Sunday morning in the cem- 

 etery before ten o'clock. The first one 

 found (April 14th), was in a white 

 pine, twenty-five feet up, and ten feet 

 out on a horizontal limb, but was de- 

 serted before any eggs were laid. 



Number 2 was twenty-five feet up in 

 a small hemlock and three feet out 

 on a horizontal limb. I found this 

 nest April 16th when it was only fair- 

 ly started, and spent some time on 

 several different days watching build- 

 ing operations. The female did all 

 the work, the male often accompany- 

 ing her to and fro. The birds were 

 constantly calling. The female fre- 

 quently called while at the nest and 

 the male was continually singing. 

 April 29th the female began setting on 

 a set of three. 



Number 3 was also twenty-five feet 

 up in a hemlock and seven feet out 

 near the end of a horizontal limb. 1 

 found it completed on the 21st and on 

 the 30th the female began setting on 

 three eggs. 



Nest Number 4 was a surprise. 1 

 was passing the site of a farm house 

 that had burned last fall when I heard 

 a siskin singing in the trees along the 

 road. Just inside the gate stood two 

 little yellow pines. They were so 

 small I would never have looked in 

 them if the male hadn't been singing. 

 In the smaller of the two, I saw the 

 female sitting on the nest. It was 

 only six feet up and four feet out, 

 and contained three quite well mark- 

 ed eggs of the siskin, and one of the 

 cow bird. This was on April 28th. 



Nest Number 5 was thirty feet up in 



