13S 



PINE FINCH. 

 FRINGILLA PLYUS. 

 [Plate XVII.— Fig. 1.] 



Pe ale's Museum, JVo. 6577. 



THIS little northern stranger visits us in the month of No- 

 vember, and seeks the seeds of the black alder, on the borders of 

 swamps, creeks and rivulets. As the weather becomes more se- 

 vere, 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 have regularly wintered many years; where a noble 

 avenue of pine trees, and walks covered with fine white gravel, 

 furnish them with abundance thro the winter. Early in March 

 they disappear, either to the north, or to the pine woods that cover 

 many lesser ranges of the Alleghany. While here they are often 

 so tame as to allow you to walk within a few yards of the spot 

 where a whole flock of them are sitting. They flutter among the 

 branches, frequently hanging by the cones, and uttering a note al- 

 most exactly like that of the Goldfinch (F. tristis.) I have not a 

 doubt but this bird appears in a richer dress in summer in those 

 places where he breeds, as he has so very great a resemblance to 

 the bird above mentioned, with whose changes we are well ac- 

 \ quainted. 



The length of this species is four inches, breadth eight inches ; 

 upper part of the head, the neck and back a dark flaxen color, 

 streaked with black ; wings black, marked with two rows of dull 



VOL. II. L 1 



