_Fringilla pinus_, WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 133, pl. xvii, f. 1.—
AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 455; V, 509, pl. clxxx. _Fringilla_
(_Carduelis_) _pinus_, BON. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 103. _Linaria
pinus_, AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 115.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 125,
pl. clxxx. _Chrysomitris pinus_, BONAP. Consp. 1850, 515.—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 425.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 197.—COOPER, Orn. Cal.
I, 172.—SAMUELS, 290. _?? Chrysomitris macroptera_, DUBUS, Esq.
Orn. tab. 23 (Mexico).—BP. Conspectus, 1850, 515.
[Line drawing: _Chrysomitris pinus._
11096 ♀]
SP. CHAR. Tail deeply forked. Above brownish-olive. Beneath whitish,
every feather streaked distinctly with dusky. Concealed bases of
tail-feathers and quills, together with their inner edges,
sulphur-yellow. Outer edges or quills and tail-feathers
yellowish-green. Two brownish-white bands on the wing. Length. 4.75;
wing, 3.00; tail, 2.20. Sexes alike. _Young_ similar, but the white
below tinged with yellow, the upper parts with reddish-brown, and
there are two pale ochraceous bands on the wing.
HAB. North America from Atlantic to Pacific; Vera Cruz, plateau and
alpine region (SUMICHRAST, I, 550).
Specimens from all parts of North America appear to be the same, but
there is a great deal of variation among individuals. No. 10,225 ♂,
Fort Tejon, California, and 51,636, Colorado Territory, are almost
entirely white beneath, the streaks being hardly observable. 32,765,
Mexico, and 9,524, Washington Territory, are unstreaked medially. No.
11,096, Fort Bridger, has the streaks on the sides unusually broad,
and very black.
In autumn and winter a reddish-brown tinge overspreads the upper
parts.
HABITS. Though classed with the Goldfinches of this country, the Pine
Finch, in many respects more nearly resembles, in its habits and
nidification, the _Carpodaci_. It is found throughout the United
States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In the winter it extends its
irregular migrations into the Central States, as far as Northern
California on the Pacific, and Southern Pennsylvania on the Atlantic.
It breeds throughout the British Provinces, Northern Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Michigan, and thence to Washington
Territory, in all the evergreen forests.
At Calais, Me., it is resident throughout the year, and breeds there,
but is much more common in the winter than in the summer. In Western
Maine, Professor Verrill observed it very common, both in the spring
and in the fall, but never found it breeding. He found it very
abundant about the Umbagog lakes in July, where it was evidently
breeding. It breeds also abundantly among the White Mountains.
Mr. Ridgway first saw the Pine Finch on the East Humboldt Mountains,
where, through July and August, it was quite common, and where
undoubtedly it breeds, as a young bird unable to fly was obtained. On
the Wahsatch Mountains it was a very abundant species, inhabiting the
pines as well as the groves of aspens in the alpine regions. It is
gregarious at all times, flying in roving, screeching flocks. The
notes it utters on all occasions resemble a very peculiar
pronunciation of _swe-er_, given in a very sharp tone. When the flock
suddenly takes to flight, this is changed to a more rattling outcry. A
nest, containing no eggs, was found in an aspen-tree; and another,
containing one egg, similar to those described elsewhere, was found in
a fir-tree (_Abies_) situated near the extremity of a horizontal
branch about twenty feet from the ground.
The Pine Finch is also a very common and resident bird in the plateau
of Mexico and in the alpine regions of the State of Vera Cruz. Its
common name there is _Dominiguito montero_. In the alpine regions
Sumichrast states that it is found to the height of six thousand five
hundred feet, and does not, to his knowledge, descend below three
thousand feet. It most especially frequents the plateau.
Captain Blakiston met with this species on the plains of the
Saskatchewan, near the Rocky Mountains, August 6, 1858.
In the eastern portion of Massachusetts it is somewhat irregular in
its movements and appearance, which are supposed to be affected by the
abundance or scarcity of its food elsewhere. Here it feeds chiefly on
seeds of grasses and weeds, probably only after the seeds of the
hemlock and other forest trees have failed it. They are usually most
abundant late in the season and after heavy falls of snow farther
north have diminished their means of subsistence. Mr. Maynard found it
very numerous in the winter of 1859-60, remaining until quite late in
the season, and again in the winter of 1868-69, remaining until the
last week in May. In Western Massachusetts, according to Mr. Allen, it
is a regular winter visitant, but never abundant. It arrives early in
October, and may be seen in small flocks from that time to the third
week in May. It sometimes frequents the apple-orchards, where it feeds
on the _Aphides_. According to Dr. Coues, this species occasionally
strays as far to the south as the Carolinas, but it is not common
there.
Wilson observed these birds near Philadelphia, where they were feeding
on the seeds of the alder. Later in the season they collected in
larger flocks and took up their abode among the pine woods. In one
particular locality, he states, a flock of two or three hundred of
these birds regularly wintered, for many years in succession, where
noble avenues of pines furnished them with abundant food throughout
the season. Early in March they all disappeared. While there, they
were so tame as to allow a person to approach within a few yards. They
fluttered among the branches, frequently hanging from the cones, at
the same time uttering notes closely resembling those of the Goldfinch.
In severe winters Mr. Audubon has met with the Pine Finch as far south
as Henderson, Ky., and Charleston, S. C., but such visits were always
brief. In August, 1832, he met with flocks of these birds in Labrador.
They were in company with the Crossbill, and were feeding on the seeds
of the fir-trees, and also on those of the thistle. When at the
Magdalen Islands he frequently saw flocks moving from various
directions. At Bras d’Or, towards the end of July, they were in great
numbers, and the old birds were accompanied by their young. They
frequented thickets of willows and elders in the vicinity of water,
and were very fearless and gentle. According to his account they sing
while on the wing, and their notes are sweet, varied, clear, and
mellow, and, while somewhat resembling the song of the _C. tristis_,
are perfectly distinct from it. Its flight is exactly similar, both
gliding through the air in graceful and deep curves.
In Washington Territory Dr. Cooper found this Finch an abundant and
constant resident, migrating to the coast in winter, where it feeds on
the seeds of the alder. In summer they were gregarious, even when
occupied with their nests and young. He has never met with any in
California, not even in the Sierra Nevada, though they have been found
by others along its whole western slope, as far south as Fort Tejon.
They feed on the seeds of both coniferous and deciduous trees.
Early in May, 1859, a pair of these birds built their nest in the
garden of Professor Benjamin Peirce, in Cambridge, Mass., near the
colleges. It was found on the 9th by Mr. Frederick Ware, and already
contained its full complement of four eggs, partly incubated. This
nest was three inches in height and four in diameter. The depth of the
cavity, as well as its diameter at the rim, was two inches. The base
of this nest was a mass of loose materials, and the lower portions of
the sides were hardly different. The upper and the inner portions of
this fabric were much more compactly and neatly woven, or rather
felted together. The outer layers consisted of small twigs of the
_Thuja_, dried stems and ends of pine twigs, grasses, sedges, stalks
of small vegetables, fine roots, bits of wool, and coarse hair. The
whole was very closely lined with fine dry roots of herbaceous plants
and the hair of small quadrupeds.
The eggs are of an oblong-oval shape, of a light green ground-color,
spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with markings of a light
rusty-brown. They measure .71 by .50 of an inch. They have a marked
resemblance to the eggs of the _Linariæ_, but the ground-color is of a
slightly lighter shade.
A nest of this species, found May 15, 1868, at Brunich, Canada, was
composed almost entirely of pine twigs interlaced in a very neat and
artistic manner. Its diameter was three and a half inches, and its
height two inches. It was lined with hair. The cavity was one and a
half inches deep and two inches wide.