PINE FINCH. 275 



safety, require a solitary region, far from the intruding foot- 

 steps of man. 



The snow bird is six inches long, and nine in extent ; the 

 head, neck, and upper parts of the breast, body, and wings, 

 are of a deep slate colour; the plumage sometimes skirted 

 with brown, which is the colour of the young birds ; the lower 

 parts of the breast, the whole belly, and vent, are pure white ; 

 the three secondary quill-feathers next the body are edged 

 with brown, the primaries with white ; the tail is dusky slate, 

 a little forked, the two exterior feathers wholly white, which 

 are flirted out as it' flies, and appear then very prominent ; 

 the bill and legs are of a reddish flesh colour ; the eye, bluish 

 black. The female differs from the male in being consider- 

 ably more brown. In the depth of winter, the slate colour of 

 the male becomes more deep and much purer, the brown dis- 

 appearing nearly altogether. 



PINE FINCH. {Fringilla pinus.) 



PLATE XVII.— Pig. 1. 



Peale's Museum, No. 6577. 

 CARDUELIS PmUS.—SwAJN8<m. 

 Fringilla pinus (subgenus Carduelis), Bonap. Synop. p. 111. 



This little northern stranger visits us in the month of 

 November, and seeks the seeds of the black alder, on the 

 borders of swamps, creeks, and rivulets. As the weather 

 becomes more severe, and the seeds of the Pinus Canadensis 

 are fully ripe, these birds collect in larger flocks, and take up 

 their residence almost exclusively among these trees. In the 

 gardens of Bush Hill, in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, 

 a flock of two or three hundred of these birds has regularly 

 wintered many years, where a noble avenue of pine trees, 

 and walks covered with fine white gravel, furnish them with 

 abundance through the winter. Early in March they dis- 

 appear, either to the north, or to the pine woods that cover 



