RED CONSPICUOUS IN PLUMAGE 



477 



Breeding Season : May and June. 



Nest : Flat, thin structure composed of rootlets and twigs, lined with 

 iiner roots, usually placed in coniferous trees. 



High ia the Sierra Nevada range where, all the year 

 long, the crevices and sunless nooks hold patches of 

 snow, where the dark hemlock forests cover the moun- 

 tain sides with their shad- 

 ows, the Pine Grosbeak 

 finds temperature, food, 

 and breeding grounds ex- 

 actly to his liking. Nor 

 when the storms of winter 

 howl through the pines 

 does he go far to seek a 

 warmer climate. He seems 

 fairly to revel in the swirling 

 clouds of snow, and, until 

 driven by hunger to seek food 

 lower down the mountain, 

 he will stay in his favorite 

 haunts. On the edge of a 

 snowdrift you may see him 

 picking up the wind-blown 

 seeds and frozen insect life 

 that come there no man knows how. When the summer 

 suns have warmed the mountains, he whistles most 

 musical love songs as he frolics through the trees with 

 his mate. At all times, except the few weeks of the 

 breeding season, he is found in company with others 

 of his kind, both male and female. Early in May the 



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515 b. California Pine 

 Grosbeak. 



"Ke seems fairly to revel in the 

 swn/rling clouds of snow. " 



