AMERICAN PINE GROSBEAK. 27 



Sea. Throughout the interior of the above region it is an abundant species. On the 

 Kadiak Peninsula, in the vicinity of Behring Straits it is found among the stunted spruces 

 to longitude, 165° west, thence through the entire territory of Alaska, to the British 

 boundary line it is abundant ; at Sitka and Kadiak it was found numerous by Bischoff, 

 during the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, and specimens were brought me from 

 points along nearly the entire course of the Yukon. It is limited by the range of 

 spruce, pine, and cotton-wood forests. Dall found the crops of these Grosbeaks filled 

 with cotton-wood buds at Nulato, on the Yukon. During winter, while traveling along 

 the frozen surfaces of the water-courses of the interior, it is common to note a party oJ 

 these birds busy among the cotton-wood tops, uttering their cheerful lisping notes as 

 they move from tree to tree. I have frequently passed a pleasant half hour on the 

 wintry banks of the Yukon, while making a midday halt, and waiting for the natives 

 to melt the snow for our tea, listening to the chirping and fluttering of these birds, as 

 they came trooping along the edges of the snow-laden woods in small parties. They 

 rarely paid any attention to us, but kept oh their vsray, and were, ere long, lost to 

 sight in the midst of the bending tree-tops, and silence again pervaded the dim vistas 

 of the low w^oods. These birds withstand the severest cold in these forests, even within 

 the Arctic circle, and appear to be about equally distributed throughout the w^ooded 

 region. Unfortunately my opportunities for observing them were confined entirely to 

 the short glimpses obtained in the manner cited, and I can add nothing to their histoi-y 

 during the summer and breeding season. Beyond the faint, soft call-note uttered as the 

 birds trooped along through the forests, I never heard thtm make any other sound. 

 The American authors appear to have overlooked, or not noted, the song of this 

 species, which is said to be — especially in the European bird — very pleasant and musical." 



Mr. G. A. Boardman found a nest near Calais, Maine, supposed to belong to the 

 Pine Grosbeak. It was placed in an alder bush in a wet meadow, about four feet from 

 the ground. It was composed entirely of coarse green mosses. The eggs, two in num- 

 ber, w^ere not distinguishable from those of the European species, being pale greenish- 

 blue, spotted and blotched with dark brown surface markings and lilac shell spots. At 

 the end of June Mr. H. A. Purdie observed old Pine Grosbeaks feeding their young in 

 New Hampshire, and Prof. Wm. Brewster observed a young male at Upton, Me. Dr. C. 

 H-. Merriam, the celebrated naturalist of the Agriculture Department, Washington, D. C, 

 observed it "on the Godbout River, which empties in the St. Lawrence from the North, 

 about six miles from the Pointe des Monts, where the river widens into the Gulf" This 

 AAras about the middle of July. According to Mr. Nap. A. Comeau, who accompanied 

 Dr. Merriam, the bird is quite common there both summer and winter. These records 

 show that this bird breeds in northern New England and Canada. Mr. Trippe and 

 other ornithologists found the Pine Grosbeak in the high mountain ranges of the West 

 during the breeding time. 



I am in the happy situation to report of the Pine Grosbeak's breeding in northern 

 Wisconsin. Mr. A. J. Schoenebeck found a nest of this bird May 5, 1890, near Boyd's 

 Creek, six miles west of Chaguamegon Bay, Bayfield County, Wis. It was built in a 

 hemlock about nine feet above the ground and seven feet from the trunk. The ground 

 was dry and the forest consisted of deciduous and coniferous trees. The structure was 



