Pine Siskin 347 
Description.—Male—General colour greyish-brown strongly streaked 
with dusky, the ground-colour of the rump and the lower side much 
paler, becoming almost white on the abdomen ; wings and tail dusky 
black, the bases of the remiges and rectrices and their outer edges pale 
lemon-yellow, the middle- and greater-coverts generally tipped with 
white ; iris black, bill and legs dark horn. Length 4-15; wing 2-85; 
tail 1-75; culmen -40; tarsus -55. 
The female resembles the male; a young bird has a buffy wash 
above and below and has buffy tips to the wing-coverts. 
Distribution.—Breeding in the pine forests of northern North America 
south to New England and Minnesota, and along the mountain ranges 
to North Carolina and the Mexican border ; south in winter to the Gulf 
States and Mexico. In Colorado the Pine Siskin is a resident, breeding 
both in the mountains up to about timber line and also in the plains, 
though perhaps most abundantly in the former; in the winter it is 
found at lower elevations in the mountains and in the foothills, but its 
movements are very erratic, like those of the Crossbill. 
It appears to be widely distributed throughout the State, as 
the following selected records show, viz.: Boulder co. (Henderson), 
El Paso and Lincoln cos. (Aiken), Salida, January and May (Frey), 
Fort Garland (Henshaw), Grand, Routt and Eagle cos. (Warren), 
Twin Lakes (Scott), San Juan co. (Drew). 
Habits.—Like most of its near relatives, the Pine 
Siskin is nearly always in small parties or large flocks 
and generally in the pine forest, on the buds of which 
it chiefly subsists. They are very erratic in their move- 
ments, often appearing for a short time in large numbers, 
and then disappearing again completely. In the spring 
they relish the catkins of the cotton-wood, and buds 
of other deciduous trees, while in the autumn they often 
associate with Goldfinches, and feed on the seed of the 
thistle and other weeds. Frey observed large numbers 
of them in May, in the City Park at Salida, digging 
their bills into the dandelions and feeding on the 
unripened seed. Their flight is undulating, and they 
have an agreeable song in the spring. 
In the plains eggs may be looked for from May 15th 
to June Ist, in the mountains from June 15th to July 
5th. The nest is usually high up in a pine tree, though 
