‘“As the days grew longer I eagerly listened to the heautifnlly clear music of the bird in more than one loca- 
lity ; and on a snowy morning I saw a female watching me so very unconcernedly from a tree, that I climbed 
up to try to catch her in my hand. It was not until I nearly touched her that she flew off, as though she 
thought 1 was carrying the joke too far, but in a way that convinced me she had no nest. I had made 
arrangements for working another part of the country ; but I left a trusty Lap in strict charge to visit a spot 
in Finland where I had ascertained that in previous years the bird had* bred. On my return to the neigh- 
bourhood at the end of summer, I watched day after day for the arrival of my faithful Lap. The nights wLe 
already becoming dark, when one evening I saw the well-known figure in a boat approaching our strand. I 
had scaicely shouted welcome before his wallet was in my hand, and my English friends and myself were in 
triumphal procession to the house. First made its appearance a grim wolf’s head ; then came forth some 
rein-deer gad-flies ; next there was extracted an unknown nest ; then a skinned Pine-Grosbeak ; and at last 
were carefully unwrapped from a little case the wished-for eggs, and there they lay in all their fresh-discovered 
beauty before us.’ 
“ A nest, which was first found on the 27th of May, contained four eggs, and was in a young spruce fir 
tree at about six feet from the ground. It did not touch the bole of the tree ; and the branches about it were 
thin, short, and open ; and to identify them completely, the hen was snared upon it. ‘ At Midsummer a nest 
was found, with four fully fledged young, about a hundred yards from the spot where the former nest had 
been. It is now in the British Museum. Externally it is made of remarkably open work of twigs and roots, 
mostly in veiy long pieces ; in the centre of the platform there is an inner bedding of barkless fibrous roots, 
with a little of the hair-like lichen which grows so abundantly on trees in Lapland forests.’ ” 
Mr. Wheelwright says “ I was much pleased on my arrival at Quickiock to see in the fir-forests close to 
the village small flocks of Pine-Grosbeaks, which appeared to have remained there throughout the winter ; 
but they might have migrated and returned again ; for I have noticed that, when the Grosbeaks come into the 
Wermland forests in winter, they usually arrive early in November, and leave in February. By the first week 
in May they had paired, and on the 4th of June we took a nest from a small fir, at about ten feet from the 
ground, on the side of a fell, in by no means a large wood; and I may here remark that all the nests taken 
were placed close to the stem, in small fiis, never high from the ground or m deep woods, and generally in 
rather conspicuous situations ; all the trees in the Quickiock forests are so small and stunted, and the branches 
so bare, that scarcely any bird, except the very small kinds, builds its nest on the branches. In all, I found five 
nests ; of these, two contained four eggs, which I take to be the full number, although, like the Cross-bill, the 
Pine-Grosbeak appears sometimes to sit on three ; and two had young in them. The nest is neither large 
nor deep, but is very compactly and neatly built, like basketwork, of very fine fir branches and thin cran- 
berry fibres tightly interlaced, and lined with fine stiff grass and a little hair. The eggs vary much, both in 
size and colouring, but are usually about the size of those of the Hawfinch, and of a pale bluish green, blotched 
and lined with light-purple and dark-umbre spots, and minute dots thickest towards the larger end ; they 
average one inch by three quarters. 
“The food of the Pine-Grosbeak is not, like that of the Cross-bill, the seed of the fir-cones, but 
the small buds or embryos of the young branches which shoot out from the lateral limbs of the 
firs and pines. They can, however, pick out the seeds from the cones both of tbe pine and fir quite as 
cleverly as the Cross-bills. The song of the male, both in winter and early spring, is delightful, being clear 
and flute-like. I have also heard it on a frosty winter day sing in the air while floating from one tree to another, 
and noticed that the sexes often keep up a very low pretty twitter as if conversing. As soon, however, as 
they begin to build, the sweet song of the male entirely ceases, and he assiduously assists the female in 
gathering sticks and fibres for the construction of the nest. Not a note do they utter, except a gentle 
“ cluck,” as if conversing together in an under tone ; and nothing in their note or actions indicates the proxi- 
mity of the nest. It is a very fine, bold, tame bird, rather foolish than otherwise (for the boys often snare 
it from a tree with a hair noose on a long pole), and an excellent one for the cage, but must not be kept too 
warm, or it will soon die.” 
It would appear that the Pine-Grosbeak is subject to the same changes and states of plumage as the Cross- 
bills : thus, while some of the males are clothed in ashy grey, others are red, and others, again, sulphur yellow. 
Mr. Wheelwright believed that the red birds were adult, and the yellow still older males, and that the 
ashy-grey colouring was characteristic both of the female and of young males, which, although capable of 
breeding, had not yet assumed the fully adult livery. 
The Plate represents the two sexes, of the size of life. 
