BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 2"/l 



of wild grapes, sour gum, juniper, dogwood, viburnum and poison ivy could have 

 been gathered. As the crow is an inhabitant of the forest or its immediate 

 vicinity, it feeds largely upon the fruits of the forest, and thus distributes the 

 seeds by which it is replenished. 



The Pine Grosbeak {Pinicola enucleator). 



The pine grosbeak is an inhabitant of the northern portion of North America, 

 and a winter visitant to the more northerly parts of the United States, sometimes 

 coming as far south as Pennsylvania. It is, however, rather erratic in its move- 

 ments, and is often absent from some localities for a series of years, after which 

 it may again become abundant. During its winter stay in the United States it is 

 wonderfully tame and confiding, and can usually be approached to within a few 

 feet, and sometimes can be taken with the hand. 



The food of the grosbeak is mostly obtained upon trees, and consists of seeds 

 and small fruits during the months when the bird is not breeding. Accurate 

 data are lacking as to the bird's diet while engaged in rearing its young, but 

 it is probable that at that time it consists principally of insects or other animal 

 matter. The seeds eaten consist mostly of those of trees such as the ash and 

 the conifers. It takes the seeds from the cone by means of its stout beak, and 

 while most of them are eaten and so destroyed, many fall to the ground where 

 they can germinate. The fruit which these birds eat is mostly of such species as 

 grow upon trees or the larger shrubs, like the juniper, the sour gum and the vibur- 

 nums. The seeds of these of course pass through the intestinal tract uninjured 

 and are distributed where they have a chance to sprout and grow. Besides seed and 

 fruit, the bird subsists to some extent upon buds, and is accused of doing damage 

 to trees in this way, but it is doubtful if the injury is serious. 



The Crossbills {Loxia cttrvirostra minor and C. leucoptera). 



The crossbills, like the pine grosbeak, are residents of the north, and make 

 irregular excursions into the country lying farther south. While in a general 

 way these southern migrations occur at the beginning of cold weather, and the 

 return northward in the spring, yet in the case of the red species (L. c. minor) 

 the birds often linger in the south till spring is far advanced. Another of their 

 peculiarities is that they frequently breed in midwinter, even in a climate as 

 cold as that of central New England, and this may account for the fact that they 

 are in no hurry to get back to the north in the spring as their procreative 

 duties may have been already performed. 



