PINE SISKIN. 



Spinas pinus Stejneger. 



"ORTHERN Wisconsin forms the southern part of the Canadian Fauna. In the 

 extensive and beautifiil evergreen woods of this region many species of Wood 

 Warblers breed, and the sweet soliloquy of the Blue-headed Yireo is often heard. The 

 numerous cool springs, murmuring brooks and deep lakes, and the invigorating climate 

 in summer make this hilly forest region especially attractive to the tourist and friend of 

 nature. This is the true home of the Yeery, the White-crowned Sparrow, the Slate- 

 colored Junco and the Crossbills, and it is also the summer home of the always 

 vivacious little Pine Siskin, or Pine Finch. 



The Pine Siskin is an inhabitant of the extensive evergreen forests of the north, 

 from the Northern States northward and from the Atlantic to the Pacificj but it does 

 not seem to occur as far north as Alaska. In our own country it is found from Maine 

 to New York, in Michigan, ViTisconsin, and Minnesota, in the coniferous forests of the 

 Alleghany Mountains as far south probably as South Carolina and Georgia, in the 

 Sierra Nevada and in the Rocky Mountains, being also a common resident in the plateau 

 of Mexico and in the Alpine regions of Yera Cruz, rarely or never descending below 

 3,000 feet. Its common name there is Dominiguito montero. 



In winter the Siskins are very abundant in the Middle and Gulf States, where 

 they often congregate -with Goldfinches. They frequently come into the gardens 

 in search of food, usually in small troops of ten or a dozen, conducting themselves 

 much like Goldfinches under similar circumstances. In northern Illinois they generally 

 appear by November 10, and by the end of that month they reach southern 

 Missouri. They make their appearance in large fiocks of from fifty to a hundred and 

 more individuals, scouring the locality in the same erratic manner as their allies, the 

 Red-polls. They are often mistaken for Goldfinches, as they resemble them very much, 

 not only in regard to their general appearance, but also in their smoothly undulating 

 flight, their climbing around on the weed stems, their lisping querulous call-note, and 

 in the manner of procuring their food. In their winter-quarters they are often seen 

 moving around together. During the breeding season, however, both species show so 

 many diflferences, and the song of both is so unUke that only the beginner in the beau- 

 tiful science of ornithology is liable to confound , them. — In the pine woods of the 

 Southern States they are very common in winter, feeding on the seeds of grasses and 

 weeds w^hich grow abundantly in these forests, as w^ell as of the seeds of the sycamore 

 and the river or red birch {Betula nigra). 



In Wisconsin and other Northern States they appear in the early part of May or 

 late in April, fully two weeks earlier than the Goldfinches. According to my friend, 

 the late Capt. B. F. Goss, they breed rather abundantly in the northern part of Wis- 

 consin, and his observations fully corrobrorate what Dr. C. H. Merriam has written 

 about the nest. It is a rather bulky structure, the exterior being loosely built of hem- 

 lock and spruce twigs and moss, while the interior is compactly woven of plant down, 



