180 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
the Great Auk, owing to persecution, and the comparative 
helplessness of this creature in escaping his enemies, particu- 
larly man. 
Should the Goldfinches ever cease to exist, let this be their 
eulogy. The Goldfinches were peculiarly attractive on account 
of their apparently happy disposition, and their sprightly, ex- 
pressive twitters, which were never exchanged for the weak 
and almost mournful notes which many other birds adopt in 
autumn and winter. What more could have been reasonably 
asked than that these birds should be finely colored, sing 
sweetly, have a variety of charming notes, possess a peculiar 
flight and attractive habits, be common and resident through- 
out the year, and frequent the neighborhood of man? 
(B) pinus. Pine Finch. “Siskin.” 
(An irregular winter-visitor to Massachusetts, occasionally 
lingering here until June, and having been known to breed at 
Cambridge.) 
(a). About 42 inches long. Flaxen; paler below. Thickly 
streaked with darker, rather finely so on the head and under 
parts. Wings and tail, black, with much yellow, which, in the 
breeding-season, is more or less suffused throughout the plum- 
age. 
(b). Dr. Brewer says: “‘ Early in May, 1859, a pair of these 
birds built their nest in the garden of Professor Benjamin 
Pierce, in Cambridge, Mass., near the colleges. It was found 
on the, 9th by Mr. Frederick Ware, and already contained its 
full complement of four eggs, partly incubated.” ‘The eggs 
are of an oblong-oval shape, of a light green ground-color, 
spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with markings of a light 
rusty-brown. They measure ‘71 by °50 of an inch.” , 
(c). So irregular are the habits of the American “‘ Siskins,” 
that I have never clearly understood their distribution and 
annual movements. Though these birds have been known to 
breed exceptionally at Cambridge,-in Massachusetts, they 
usually breed in New England, only to the northward of that 
State, such as in certain places among the White Mountains 
