SPARROWS 225 



Food habits. — This species, like most of its relatives in the 

 sparrow family, subsists largely on seeds. Its fondness for 

 the seeds of the thistle has earned for it the name of "thistle- 

 bird," while in some sections it is known as "lettuce-bird" for 

 a similar reason. Barrows says that in winter it eats the 

 seeds of the birch and alder. Forbush says of it : 



The food of the Goldfinch is largely that of a typical 

 Sparrow, as it feeds much on the seeds of weeds * * * The 

 seeds of wild clematis, wild sunflowers, and ragweed are 

 much sought by them. Goldfinches feed their young largely 

 on plant lice, caterpillars, small grasshoppers, and beetles. 

 During the spring * * * they feed considerably on canker- 

 worms. • * * They subsist largely in winter on the seeds of 

 birches and those of the button-bush, as well as on weed seeds.* 



PINE SISKIN: Spinus pinus piniis (Wilson). 



State records. — The siskin, or pine linnet, occurs as a rather 

 uncommon or irregular winter visitant. According to Avery 

 it is abundant some years and rare others. He met with it at 

 Greensboro chiefly in spring migration, seen March 29, 1888, 

 and specimens taken February 24 and April 14, 1890. At 

 Auburn, March 6 and 9, 1912, I observed a flock of about a 

 dozen in deciduous trees on the grounds of the Experiment 

 Station. On Sand Mountain, in Jackson County, I saw sev- 

 eral flocks of 6 to 20, October 26 and 31 and November 3, 

 1916 ; and at Abbeville, November 23, 1916, a flock of 6. Holt 

 saw two at Jackson, April 3, 1912, and Miss Parkhurst reports 

 seeing numbers of siskins at Talladega, November 29, 1908, 

 and January 1, 1909. On Sipsey Fork, near Mellville, May 1 

 to 5, 1914, Peters observed a flock of about 20 on several oc- 

 casions, and secured one specimen. L. S. Golsan took one, 

 also, at Prattville, April 25, 1914, from a flock of 10 or 15, and 

 two near Booth, November 18, 1916, from a flock of about 30. 

 Apparently there was a large invasion of these birds during 

 the winter of 1922-23, for at Anniston, between December 24, 

 1922 and May 11, 1923, R. H. Dean observed them in flocks 

 varying from 3 to 100 or more.f At Auburn, between Feb- 



•Forbush, E. H., Useful birds and their protection, pp. 222-223, 1907. 

 tBird-Lore, vol. 25, pp. 394-395, 1923. 



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