Job 071 Massachusetts Winter Birds. 



147 



This ride took in a circuit of twenty miles, and convinced us 

 that though the number of resident birds to be met with in winter 

 is very small, yet there is always the chance of meeting unex- 

 pectedly something very rare and desirable. We were also quite 

 satisfied that while here the Pine Grosbeaks do not remain in the 

 bush, but keep by the towns and villages where they find the 

 berry-bearing trees and bushes, especially the mountain ash, 

 which yields their favorite fare. 



NOTES ON SOME OF THE WINTER BIRDS OF 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY HERBERT K. JOB. 



It has been my privilege for sevei-al years past to enjoy many 

 opportunities for observing the habits of the birds found in 

 Eastern Massachusetts, and being less engaged during the winter 

 season than at other times, I have been enabled to become rather 

 better acquainted with the birds found then than with those 

 seen at other times. Last winter (1SS3-83) was quite interest- 

 ing as regards its feathered creatures, and it is my purpose in this 

 article to refer to such of our visitors during that season as may 

 be of interest to the readers of the Bulletin, and also to give 

 some notes relative to past seasons. 



All collectors in this section must have noticed how promptly 

 most of our winter biixls arrived last year ; so, although my 

 subject is winter birds, I shall have to begin back as early as 

 October. The nth of that month brought immense fliocks of 

 Pine Finches, some flocks containing as many as three hundred 

 individuals. They remained mostly in localities where cone- 

 bearing evergreens grew more or. less plentifully, and were 

 abundant until early in November, when they suddenly dis- 

 appeared. A few scattering ones were seen in February, but 

 scarcely any until a short time since, when quite a number ap- 

 peared in my garden in Roxbury, feeding invai-iably in a small row 

 of larch trees. Manv of them were single birds, and none were 



