FINCHES. 
401 
is an inhabitant of the pine-woods of the northern regions of both the Eastern and 
Western Hemispheres. A gorgeously-coloured bird in its adult plumage, the pine- 
grosbeak seems to be remarkable for the variation in the time of the assumption 
of this dress; there being little doubt that cock-birds have bred while in their im¬ 
mature plumage. The wings are of moderate length; the tail being of medium 
length, and distinctly forked; while the feet are small, and the metatarsus does not 
exceed the third toe in length. The sexes are easily distinguished by the crimson red 
plumage of the adult male, although immature cocks cannot thus be distinguished. 
Mr. Seebohm remarks that the summer home of the pine-grosbeak is in a very 
picturesque country. “ Almost all the forest districts of Siberia are hilly, and in 
the north, as the trees become smaller, they are also more thinly scattered over the 
ground, and the interminable extent of wood is broken by occasional flat, open 
marshes, which become gay with flowers as soon as the snow melts. The scenery 
is more park-like than farther south, and birds are much more plentiful and more 
easily seen. The pine-grosbeaks arrive at their breeding-grounds in small flocks 
in April, and continue to be gregarious until summer comes, when they disperse 
for the purpose of building their nests. They appear to be somewhat shy and 
retiring birds, because they do not frequent the roads like the bullfinches, the snow- 
buntings, and the mealy redpolls. But this is by no means the case; they confine 
themselves principally to the woods where they are not difficult to approach, even 
when the sportsman is obliged to hunt them in snow-shoes, six feet long, to support 
his weight upon the untrodden surface. In the large pine-forests they prefer the 
banks of the rivers or the outskirts of some open place, and may often escape 
detection from the habit of frequenting the tops of the trees. Within the Arctic 
Circle many of the trees are small, and on the hilly ground they are scattered in 
small clumps, or sometimes as isolated trees, the drooping boughs of the spruce- 
firs looking very graceful on the white snow. In places like these the pine-grosbeak 
may often be seen perched conspicuously on the top of a spruce-fir, twenty or 
thirty feet from the ground, but looking so much like the last spike of the tree as 
frequently to escape notice. . . The call-note is a plaintive single note, somewhat 
like that of our bullfinch, but incapable of being expressed on paper. The song is 
very melodious, not very loud or long, but flute-like. When I first heard it, I 
took it for the song of some rare Siberian thrush, and was quite disappointed when 
I shot the bird to find it only a pine-grosbeak. The flight is undulating and 
powerful. We found several nests which could only have belonged to birds of 
this species, but our search for eggs was unsuccessful. The breeding-season is 
said to be the end of May or beginning of June. The nests are generally placed 
in a spruce-fir tree ten or twelve feet from the ground, on a thick branch close to 
the main stem. The nest is made on the same model as that of the hawfinch and 
bullfinch, but of coarser materials. The outside is a framework of slender fir 
twigs; and the inside, which projects above the outside, is composed of roots of 
fine grass, and a lichen which grows upon the branches of the trees, and might 
easily be mistaken for hair. . . The number of eggs varies from three to four. . . 
The ground-colour is pale greenish blue, boldly spotted, principally at the larger 
end, with surface-spots varying from rich brown to almost black, and with under¬ 
lying spots of greyer brown.” The general colour of the adult male is rosy crimson, 
vol. hi.—26 
