PINICOLA ENUCLEATOR. 
Pine-Grosbeak. 
Loxia enucleator, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 81. 
psittacea, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 5. 
Fringilla eniicleatoi', Temm. Man. d’Orn., p. 198. 
Pyrrhida enucleator, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit. tom. i p. 333. 
Pinicola, Vieill. Ois. d’Amer. Sept., tom. i. p. 4. 
Sfrobilophaga enucleator, YieiW. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. ix. p. 609. 
Corythus enucleator, Cuv. Rfegn. Anim., edit. 1816, tom. i. p. 415. 
Pyrrhula (^Corythus) enucleator. Keys. & Bias. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 40. 
Pinicola enucleator. Cab. in Ersch u. Grub. EncycL, 1st sect. vol. 50. p. 219. 
Are there any among the writers upon our native birds who have seen the Pine-Grosbeak In a state of nature ? 
I really think not. Pennant, it Is true, states that he saw a small flock flying about In the forest of Inver- 
cauld ; but as It does not appear that he obtained a specimen, I am Inclined to believe that he was deceived 
as to the species, and mistook Crossbills for Pine-Grosbeaks. Messrs. C. J. and James Paget mention, in 
their ‘ Natural History of Yarmouth,’ that a flight was seen in November 1822, on the Denes, — a very unlikely 
place to see Pine-Grosbeaks ; and as no specimen was obtained, I must be allowed respectfully to doubt the 
fact. I question if Montagu, Gilbert Mlilte, Selby, Yarrell, or Macglllivray ever saw a living example; neither 
have I, who have travelled far and wide, with an eye ahvays attentive to the appearance of any bird strange 
tome. Mr. Ryland, in his ‘ Catalogue of the Birds of Lancashire,’ includes the Pine-Grosbeak as having been 
obtained in Hulstone fir trees, on the authority of T. K. Glazebrook, Esq.; “and a female in my own collection,” 
says Yarrell, “ was shot some years ago at Harrow-on-the-FIill.” These assertions area little more tangible, 
but still to me doubtful. Mr. Stevenson, in the first volume of his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ repeats the account of 
the flight seen on the Denes, in 1822, and the statement in the ‘ Zoologist,’ p. 1313, that a pair were shot in 
Raveningham in the act of building. Mr. Lubbock also states that a pair were preserved in Yarmouth, which 
had been shot near that city; hut as these, according to Mr. Stevenson, are no longer in existence, there 
remains no proof that the species was actually killed there. I would not for a moment have it inferred that 
the bird has no claim to be admitted into the avifauna of Great Britain ; at the same time, I consider it is 
but an indifferent one. That it has now and then visited us is certain ; and that it will continue to do so occa- 
sionally is more than probable, particularly when we remember that a mere strait of sea, as compared with the 
Atlantic, separates our island from the bird’s natural home. If we pay a visit to the great primeval forests 
of Norway, Lapland, Finland, and Russia, Ave shall, with the aid of a little patience, be able to view this 
true lupine-loving bird in its native haunts, and by diligent search find its nest and have an opportunity 
of observing its curious and interesting habits. Mr. Wolley made himself as much acquainted with them as 
circumstances would admit, as did also Mr. Wheelwright. From the writings of both of these gentlemen 
(who, unhappily, now only live in our memory) I shall make such extracts as bear upon the present 
subject. 
Those who have read the foregoing lines will have gleaned that the bird is only an accidental or 
very occasional visitor to these islands, and that its true home is the northern part of the adjoining 
continent. Most authors have affirmed that it also inhabits Northern and Arctic America ; but latterly, and I 
think rightly, the American bird has been regarded as distinct from the European, and the name of Canadensis, 
proposed for it by Brisson as long ago as 1760, reinstated. The American birds are always much larger 
in every respect than those inhabiting Sweden and Lapland ; but in colour they are very similar. As, how- 
ever, species are often instituted upon much more slender differences, they may be regarded as distinct. 
They are the only known members of a form to w'hich at least six generic terms have been applied ; of these, 
Pinicola appears to be the oldest ; and I have therefore, like some of my more recent contemporaries, 
adopted it. 
“ The following quotations,” says Mr. Hewitson, “ are from the pen of Mr. Wolley, to whom naturalists 
are greatly indebted for having so perseveringly traced out and brought home the previously unknown eggs 
of this species : — ‘ The Pine-Grosbeak, though plentiful in Sweden during the winter, has been supposed to 
go to the East for the breeding-season ; and, generally speaking, this is probably true ; but in the northern 
and eastern part of Swedish Lapland, as well as in Finnish Lapland, a few Pine-Grosbeaks make their nests.’ 
“ Mr. Wolley made frequent excursions during the winter months, in the hope of finding old nests by 
which to guide his search in the ensuing spring, and on one occasion found a nest very like that of the 
Turtledove, in a young fir tree, six feet above the ground, which he had no doubt belonged to this species. 
