36 THE PINE GROSBEAK. 



seeds, or, later in the season, upon the swelling buds of the trees themselves. A 

 flock which I observed one winter in Seattle, Washington, spent two months 

 strictly within the confines of the university campus. In feeding they would 

 drop to the ground one by one, somewhat after the fashion o:^ English Spar- 

 rows, but they permitted a rather close approach and seemed quite unacquainted 

 with the treacherous ways of men. During the meal the cracking of refractory 

 maple keys was varied by frequent shrill whistles, or short shrieks, of startling 

 intensity. In the breeding season the male is said to have a clear whistling 

 song not unlike a Robin's, but he stops suddenly midway, as though he were 

 out of breath. It is certain also that the song is not delivered exclusively or 

 even preferably in the evening, as was at first supposed. Hence it appears that 

 the name "Evening" has no appropriateness whatever ; but it will doubtless be 

 preserved, if only to point a moral. 



This bird is admitted to our avifauna solely on the evidence of Dr. Kirtland 

 who met with it at Cleveland during March, i860. A great wave of them 

 swept over the farther East in the winter of '89-90, but so far as I am aware 

 none were recorded from Ohio at that time. 



No. 15. 



PINE GROSBEAK. 



A. O. U. No. 515. Pinicola enucleator leucura (Muller). 



Description. — Adult male : Slaty gray, with an overlay of carmine or dull 

 rosy, except on belly, wings, and tail; the rosy color is clearest on head and 

 adjacent parts and on the rump; wings and tail fuscous with faint rosy or whitish 

 edgings; indistinct wing-'bars are formed by the white or rosy tips of middle 

 and greater coverts and by the edgings of inner secondaries. Adult female : 

 Ground color like male; crown, nape, and upper tail-coverts saffron or olive- 

 yellow ; this color also tinges the cheeks, back, fore-breast and rump in varying 

 proportions, and everywhere supplants the rosy of the male save in the oldest ( ?) 

 birds. Adult male, length 8.25-9.00 (209.6-228.6) ; wing 4.60 (116.8) ; tail 3.63 

 (92.2); bill along culmen .53 (13.5); depth of bill .48 (12.2). Female some- 

 what smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size (only as long as Chewink but stockier; 

 nearer Robin size) ; stout bill; rosy, or saffron, and gray coloring. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Ohio. "Nest, composed of a basement of twigs 

 and rootlets, within which is a more compact fabric of finer materials. Eggs, 

 usually 4, pale greenish blue, spotted and blotched with dark brown surface mark- 

 ings and lilac shell-spots." Av. size, 1.05 x .74 (26.7 x 18.8). 



