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THE PINE FINCH. 



Fringilla Pin us, Wils. 



PLATE CLXXX. Male and Female. 



During the winter months, the Pine Finch is such a wanderer, that 

 it ranges at irregular periods, from the coast line westward to the banks 

 of the Ohio, and southward to the Carolinas. Now and then, during se- 

 vere weather with occasional storms of snow, I have seen flocks of a hun- 

 dred individuals or more, rambling in search of a place in which to alight 

 and seek for nourishment. In December 1833, I shot several near 

 Charleston in South Carolina, and on a previous winter procured five near 

 Henderson in Kentucky. Their visits to those Districts, however, are of 

 short duration, the least increase of temperature seeming to recall them 

 to their more northern haunts ; and as soon as spring commences, they 

 all disappear from the districts south of Maine and the adjacent coun- 

 tries. 



In August and September 1832, while travelling in the British pro- 

 vinces, I and my companions frequently met with flocks of these birds, 

 in company with the American Crossbill, feeding amid the branches of 

 the tallest fir trees, as well as on the seeds of the thistles of that country, 

 much in the manner of the American Goldfinch, and the European 

 Siskin. When disturbed, they would rise high in the air in an irregular 

 flight, emitting their pecuHar call-note as they flew ; but would always 

 realight as soon as another group of thistles was seen by them. When 

 feeding, they often hung head downwards, like so many Titmice, and as 

 often would balance themselves on the wing, as if afraid to alight on the 

 sharp points of the plants, which after all they appeared greatly to prefer 

 to all others. 



While among the Magdeleine Islands, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, 

 I frequently observed groups of five or six of these birds arriving from a- 

 far, and in different directions. In some instances, these flocks alighted 

 on the spars and rigging of our vessel, the Ripley, as if to rest, when 

 they would plume themselves, issue their plaintive call-notes, as if to an- 

 nounce to others (unseen by us) that they had alighted, and in a few mi- 



