CHAPTER XII. 

 THE FINCHES AND SPARROWS. 



The family Fringillidae, to which belong the sparrows, 

 finches, buntings, and grosbeaks, contains more than one- 

 seventh of the species of North American birds. It is even 

 richer in forms than the warblers, although the latter doubtless 

 destroy many more insects than do the former. The finches, 

 as a rule, are birds of moderate size, of sombre colors, and 

 of both vegetivorous and insectivorous habits. The majority 

 of them subsist upon seeds and grains of various kinds ; but 

 some eat other vegetation, including buds and fruit, and 

 many feed to a large extent upon insects. They are more or 

 less migratory, and some of them usually go in small flocks. 

 They are found in all sorts of situations. Many of the species 

 are excellent singers. 



Of the true grosbeaks occurring in our fauna, the Evening 

 Grosbeak is a western form that occasionally migrates in 

 winter to the region of the great lakes and even farther east. 

 It feeds upon the seeds and buds of various trees, such as the 

 pine, poplar, spruce, maple, black ash, and cotton-wood, and 

 has been found sometimes to include grasshoppers in its bill 

 of fare. 



The Pine Grosbeak is a northern form which in winter 

 ranges southward through the New England and other 

 Northern States. The birds travel in small flocks, which 

 spend much of their time in coniferous forests, feeding upon 

 buds of pine and spruce ; they also eat the buds and seeds 

 of white ash, basswood, alder, birch, apple, pear, and poplar, 

 as well as the berries of the red cedar and the high-bush 

 cranberry. In winter they often subsist largely upon the 

 pulp and seeds of frozen apples. In some instances they 

 132 



