The Pine Grosbeak. 
(. Pinicola enucleator.) 
In the March number of your magazine 
I notice some statements regarding the 
Pine Grosbeak. I have been in Potsdam 
as teacher in the State Normal School in 
this place since the Pall of ’72, and not 
until last Winter did I ever notice or have 
my attention called to this bird in this lo- 
cality. Last winter I mounted six females 
and one male. There seems to be a great 
scarcity of the males. A number of my 
students shot and mounted specimens, and 
I believe not one secured a male. There 
were a number of flocks that seemed to 
quarter in and near town nearly all winter. 
They, without exception, were always found 
about apple trees — crabapples ordinarily — ■ 
eating the frozen fruit on trees. This 
winter I have only seen one flock, and 
have heard of only two. I got a female 
this winter ; but for a cap being imperfect 
I should have had a male. There are usu- 
ally about a dozen in a flock, seldom more. 
They were very tame and by some of the 
citizens of the place taken for Robins. ' 
| They seem to be in most excellent condi- 
| tion, at least all of mine were. When 
these birds came here last winter no one 
knew them, and many asked me about 
I them. Getting a shot at them I was more 
than pleased to find them a bird that was 
entirely new to me, a pleasure which no 
one but a person interested appreciates. 
My little boy, seven years old, was out 
with me this winter one day, and some 
birds flying over our heads, he exclaimed, 
“ Oh ! papa, there are some Pine Gros- 
beaks; shoot me that pretty red one,” re- 
; ferring of course to the male. No parent 
it seems to me realizes how much good 
comes from making a collection of birds ; 
not only for their own personal good but 
for their children or students. My little 
boy above mentioned, can by the song dis- 
tinguish almost all of our birds. I wish 
in your excellent little paper you would 
urge this work upon your subscribers. 
Here lies a field of exact knowledge that, 
except by specialists, is but little worked. 
— W Mann , Teacher of Science in State 
Normal School , Potsdam , N. Y. 
O.&O. IX , Apr . 188-1. p, vo - H i. 
Auk, XIII, April, 1890, 
Pinicola enucleator in Westchester County, N. Y. — borne two miles 
northeast from Sing Sing, N. Y., on February [2, 1896, I shot a male 
Pine Grosbeak in high plumage. The bird was in one of a few pine 
trees in a considerable grove of cedars. Careful search in the vicinity 
failed to reveal others. — L. S. Foster, Ne-w York City. 
5-y 
