THE PINE GROSSBEAK IS JOE. 
Curiously Irregular Visitor 
from Northern Wilds. 
A Handsome Bird That Finds Our 
Winters a Balmy Change of Scene- 
They Appear Mysteriously at Inter- 
vals of Several Years — Some Old 
Habits ond Characteristics. 
Who has seen the pine grossbeak? Not 
one in a hundred, or perhaps a lesser 
ratio of ordinary careless observers, has 
that felicity, and yet the bird is a strik- 
ing object and is fairly abundant here- 
about this winter, for the first time in 
three years. Franklin Park and the fens 
are not intended as places for a winter 
stroll, to say nothing of fields a little 
more remote, but these handsome, oc- 
casional visitors to this latitude light up 
the landscape wonderfully and would 
doubtless be looked for more if we only 
knew. 
To the genuine lover of nature, es- 
pecially bird nature, the pine grossbeak 
has most of the elements that go to make 
a rare and welcome incident in the year’s 
calendar. Winter visitors in the bird line 
are few enough in all conscience. Snow- 
birds are small, numerous, pert and pret- 
ty, but the birds in winter generally can- 
not be called a nuisance in point of num- 
bers, and most species are content to ap- 
pear only in occasional pairs. 
The pine grossbeak comes very near fill- 
ing the eye. It is nearly as large as the 
robin. The young males and the females 
are of a slaty blue, a very rich lustrous 
shade, but nothing remarkable. The full 
grown male, however, is a bright red, 
with a strawberry tint, but exceedingly 
brilliant in lustre, and altogether he is a 
gorgeous bit of nature painting, all the 
more welcome that he is never seen here 
except when the winter’s blast is bleak- 
The beak is very characteristic, and, to 
the amateur observer, it* will, once it has 
been seen, prove ready means of identi- 
fying the bird. There will be found little 
difficulty in making the observation, for 
no tamer wild birds are to be found 
within the purlieus of civilization. Mr. 
Bradford Torrey of Wellesley essayed an 
experiment while watching a flock of 
them, last week, by walking up to a pair 
slowly. They allowed him to approach 
within a yard before making a stir. 
The flocks, generally, will alight on 
trees in noisy and busy dooryards. 
Mr. William Brewster of Cambridge, in 
his monograph on the bird, notes an ob- 
servation in West Medford where the 
feathered, and, of course, strange, visitors, 
found the roof of a kennel a good enough 
residence, although the. proper inhabi- 
tants were noisy and obstreperous neigh- 
bors. Mr. Brewster tells of his own ex- 
perience snaring them in an ash tree. 
1-Ie stood underneath in plain view and 
fished for them with a slip noose at the 
end of a pole. They would allow the 
dangling string to brush against their 
bills without worrying. One that he had 
caught, escaped, and he was amused and 
interested as -well, to see that bird’s 
frantic efforts to warn the flock of the 
danger. 
This extraordinary tameness in a con- 
fessedly wild bird is explained by nat- 
uralists on the score that this grossbeak’ s 
home is in an uninhabited region, where 
they have but few enemies, and there- 
fore have no need of precaution. They 
must at least come from a country 
where a man with a gun or a dog is un- 
known, and most of the data obtained 
point to Labrador as their native coun- 
try. Such an inference answers well the 
conditions of the. problem at least. 
To the “birdmen”.in this vicinity, as the 
ornithologists- call themselves, every re- 
curring autumn brings with it the ques- 
tion, “Shall we have any pine grossbeaks 
this year?’’ For these birds are somewhat 
coy and uncertain in paying their devoirs, 
however gracious they may be when they 
get here. In the winter of 1892-93 they were 
very abundant, coming in November and 
staying well through the winter. They had 
not been seen by naturalists before for 
! three years, and have not been seen since 
till this winter. 
Why they should come so irregularly is 
more than the naturalists will venture to 
explain. The last two visits had a certain 
regularity, coming as they did at intervals 
of three years, but that is no rule. The 
birds come along every year for a few 
years in succession, and then are missing 
for a period. It is supposed the extent 
southward of their migrations depends on 
the food supply up North, for it is not 
thought that severity of weather would 
make any difference to these hardy deni- 
zens of the wilds. 
On the occasion of their visit in the 
winter of 1892-93, Mr. Brewster, the doyen 
of the ornithologists, sent circulars all 
over the country, asking for data on the 
pine grossbeak. From the data obtained he 
compiled his monograph and drew a map. 
He found evidence of their migration 
southward in the succession of dates of 
observations, and what was more inter- 
esting, found what he expressed on the 
map by heavy shading, that the path of 
the birds was along the eastern coast. 
The shaded portion of his map was like a 
zone 100 miles wide, with the coast as an 
eastern boundary. The southern limit was 
in central Connecticut. This peculiar path 
of the birds is one of the facts which 
point to Labrador as their native home 
and breeding place. 
The birds are noted as winter migrants 
from the North, as far north as there are 
bird observers to note them at all. Mr. 
Torrey has seen them in the White moun- 
tains during the breeding season, but has 
seen none of their nests. 
It would be idle to speculate on why the 
birds should find it necessary to come as 
far south as here for a living some years 
and not others, though when the reason 
is discovered it will doubtless be found 
another striking illustration of the finely 
; adjusted balance of life in nature. The 
i birds that come here seem to prefer the 
berries of the ash, and next to them the 
mountain ash, with maple buds and Nor- 
way spruce buds coming next on their 
menu. 
All the foregoing trees may be pre- 
sumed to be natives of Labrador, but 
why should there be any scarcity this 
winter of their favorite food and none 
last year, the year before and the year 
before that? 
. There was again the curious thing 
noted here that the pine grossbeaks 
j came here this winter in November, as 
usual, and then disappeared, to return 
i again last month. Has there been some 
. drought or oversupply of rain, some fail- 
ure on the part of ash berries and other 
food to mature, due to some slight or 
at least overlooked natural incident? 
Or are the birds slowly learning to mi- 
j grate, forgetting the trick some years, 
to resume it when pinched a little more 
j than usual up north? 
These are the questions “bird men” 
ask, and incidentally try to find the an- 
swer by patiently noting every year just 
what they see, how they see it and 
when, putting it down where in after 
years the sum of the observations may 
be collated for a governing law. 
Aside from their appearance in the 
winter, when any newcomer is a wel- 
come novelty, the pine grossbeaks are 
not particularly interesting, according 
i to Mr. Brewster, who is a professed stu- 
dent of birds, and perhaps requires 
something out of the ordinary to excite 
him. They make no fuss whatever, 
minding their own business— getting 
something to eat— with a pertinacity 
that is admirable as an object lesson in 
industry. 
The reporter going out through 
Wellesley did not find them particularly 
interesting, but after learning something 
about the birds from Mr. Torrey, he 
found them on his way back a decided- 
ly novel and interesting feature of the 
wintry landscape. They are all about 
us, not as numerous as on their last 
visit, but rather abundant, in the most 
thickly inhabited sections, wherever 
there are ash or maple trees, and will 
repay a moment’s study, even in an 
aesthetic sense. In a scientific way the 
novice would Have to rely a good deal 
on what is told him, but he can make 
a beginning in actual observation by 
noting down what he sees and no more. 
Later he may, in accordance with mod- 
ern methods of investigation, compare 
his own fragments with the notes of 
others, and perhaps do a little toward 
solving the migrant vagaries of the 
pine grossbeak. 
