PINE FINCH. 
265 
by Mr Catesby,* who says that the back part of 
[*6 head is a dirty green, &c. Tliis description must 
"'ave been taken while the bird was changing its plumage. 
At the approach of fall, not on'y the rich yellow fades 
'®to a brown olive; but the spot of black on the crown 
^'<1 forehead becomes also of the same olive tint. Mr 
,;dwards has also erred in saying that the young male 
I'fd has the spot of black on the forehead ; this it 
not 7-eceive until the succeeding spring. The 
feiire in Edwards is considerably too large ; and that 
.y Catesby has the viings and tail much longer than 
1** nature, and the body too slender, — very different 
*'0111 the true form of the living bird. Mr Pennant 
tells us, that the legs of this sjtecies are black; 
"'ey are, however, of a bright cinnamon colour ; hut 
worthy naturalist, no doubt, described them as he 
''’nud them in the dried and stuffed skin, shrivelled up 
blackened with decay ; and thus too much of our 
''^tural history has been delineated. 
176. FKISaiLJi PINOS, WIISON. PINE FINCH. 
WILSON, PLATE XVII. PIG. I. — IN WINTER PLUMAGE. 
This little northern stranger visits us in the month 
November, and seeks the seeds of the black alder, on 
borders of swamps, creeks, and rivvflets. As the 
'''Bather becomes more severe, and the seeds of the 
Canadensis are fully ripe, the sehirds collect in 
Tger flocks, and take up their residence, almost exclu- 
jlT^'y, among these trees. In the gardens of Bush 
, "'.'in the neighbourhood of Philadel|>hia, a flock of 
or three hundred of these birds have regularly 
''•ntered many years ; where a noble avenue of pine 
o®es, and walks" covered with fine white gravel, furnish 
with ahundaucc through the winter. Early in 
Hrcb they disappear, either to the north, or to the 
{)}'"* Woods that cover many lesser ranges of the Alle- 
ohany, 'While here, they are often so tame as to allow 
* Nat. Hist. Car. vol. i, p. 43. 
I 
