a 
180 PINE FINCH. 
Sparrow, which we find so common in that season, and which is 
represented in No. 75. I_had convinced a gentleman of New York 
of his mistake in this matter, by taking him to the house of a Mr. 
Gautier there, who amuses himself by keeping.a great number of na- 
tive, as well as foreign, birds. This was in the month of July, and the 
Snow Bird appeared there in the same colored plumage he usually 
has. Several individuals of the Chipping Sparrow were also in the 
same apartment. The evidence was, therefore, irresistible ; but, as I 
had not the same proofs to offer to the eye in New England, I had not 
the same success. 
There must be something in the temperature of the blood or consti- 
tution of this bird, which unfits it for residing, during summer, in the 
lower parts of the United States, as the country here abounds with a 
great variety of food, of which, during its stay, it appears to be re- 
markably fond. Or, perhaps, its habit of associating in such numbers 
to breed, and building its nest with so little precaution, may, to insure 
is safety, require a solitary region, far from the intruding footsteps 
of man. “ 
The Snow Bird is six inches long, and nine in extent; the head, 
neck, and upper parts of the, breast, body, and wings, are of a deep 
slate color; the plumage sometimes skirted with brown, which is the 
color of the young birds ; the lower parts of the breast, the whole belly, 
and vent, are pure white; the three secondary quill-feathers next the 
body are edged with brown, the primaries with white ; the tail is dusky 
slate, a little forked, the two exterior feathers wholly white, which are 
flirted out as it flies, and appear then very prominent ; the bill and legs 
are of a reddish flesh color; the eye, bluish black. The female differs 
from the male in being considerably more brown. In the depth of 
winter, the slate color of the male becomes more deep, and much 
purer, the brown disappearing nearly altogether. 
2 
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PINE FINCH.—FRINGILLA PINUS. — Fis. 77. 
Peale’s Museum, No. 6577. 
CARDUELIS PINUS. — Swainson. 
Fringilla pinus, (sub-genus Carduelis,) Bonap. Synop. p. 111. 
Tuis little northern stranger visits us in the month of November, 
and seeks the seeds of the black alder on the borders of swamps, 
creeks, and rivulets. As the weather becomes more severe, and the 
seeds of the Pinus Canadensis are fully ripe, these birds collect in 
larger flocks, and take up their residence almost exclusively amon, 
these trees.’ Inthe gardens of Bush Hill, in the neighborhood of Phila- 
delphia, a flock of two or three hundred of these birds have regularly 
wintered many years; where a noble avenue of pine-trees, and walks 
covered with fine, white gravel, furnish them with abundance through 
the winter. Early in March. they disappear, either to the north or to 
