702 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
On the slopes of the Manzano Mountains, Mr. Gaut found them 
very numerous from an altitude of 7,300 feet clear to the summit of 
the ridges, when the crops of specimens collected showed that they 
had been eating yellow pine seeds. 
Although the Siskins were seen by us from 7,500 to 11,600 feet 
in the Pecos Mountains, they were most common at 11,000 feet on 
Jack Creek, where small bands were singing and flying from the cones 
of one spruce top to another. On the east slope of the Taos Mountains, 
they were on the weeds of a pine-and-oak-brush hillside with Juncos, 
Warblers, Nuthatches, Chickadees, and Bluebirds. 
October flocks were seen in Willow Creek Canyon, in the Mogollon 
Mountains, visiting the cone-laden tops of the spruces and also alders 
along the creek. When picking out the seeds from the small alder 
cones, they showed their directive yellow wing patches as they leaned 
over the cones. One very large flock, of probably a hundred birds, 
was seen flying back and forth up and down the creek, sometimes 
going in a compact flock, sometimes straggling out, but probably 
keeping track of each other by giving their characteristic aeolian call 
as a “location call,” when out of sight. Others were heard on top of 
a pine ridge at 9,000 feet altitude. 
In September in the pine region Mr. Henshaw reported seeing a 
few of the Siskins mingled with flocks of insectivorous birds, with 
them spending much time on the ground searching for minute grass 
and other seeds. “Later, they appeared lower down, and in small 
flocks, and often with Goldfinches, whose habits correspond closely, 
frequenting the dead weeds, and especially the sunflowers” (1875, p. 
247). 
Additional ‘Literature.—Carriger, H. W., and J. R. Pemberton, Condor, 
IX, 18-19, 1907 (nest).— Davis, E. R., Bird-Lore, XXVIII, pp. 381-388, 1926 (at 
feeding table). 
PALE GOLDFINCH: Astragalinus tnstis p&llidus (Mearns) 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 4.3-5.1 inches, wing 2.8-3.1, tail 1.7-2, 
bill .4. Female: Length (skins) 4.4-5 inches, wing 2.7-2.9, tail 1.7-2, bill .4. 
Adult male in summer: Canary-yellow with black forehead , tail, crown , and wings , 
white tail coverts, wing bars, and edgings; bill orange or orange-yellow, tipped with 
black. Adult male in rainier: Similar to the summer female but wings and tail 
blacker, white markings more conspicuous. Adult female in summer: Upperparts 
olive-grayish, tail and wings dusky, light markings of tail and wings broader than 
in adult male; upper tail coverts grayish or whitish; underparts grayish white, 
more or less tinged with pale yellow; bill horn color. Adult female in winter: 
Similar to summer female but more tinged with grayish brown, wing and tail 
markings tinged with buffy. Young: Somewhat like winter adults but browner. 
Range. —Breeds mainly in Transition Zone, on Rocky Mountain plateau from 
southeastern British Columbia, western Montana, and southwestern Manitoba 
south to Colorado (?), Arizona (rare), and central Nevada; in winter in Montana, 
Arizona, and Texas south to Vera Cruz. 
