P1NIC0LA ENUCLEATOR.
P i ne-G rosbe ak.
Loxia enucleator, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 81.
— psittacea, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. ii- p. 5.
Frmgilla enucleator, Temm. Man. A Orn., p. 198.
Pyrrhula enucleator, Temm. Man. d'€fcn., 2nd edit. tom. i p. 333.
Pinicola, Vieill. Ois. d’Amer. Sept., tom. i- p. 4.
Strobilophaga enucleator, Vieill. Nouy. Diet d’Hist. Nat., tom. ix. p. 609.
Corythus enucleator, Cuv. Ut.gn. Anim., edit. 1816, tom. i. p. 415.
Pyrrhula ( Corythus) enucleator, Keys. & Bias. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 40.
Pinicola enucleator. Cab. in Ersch u. Grub. Encycl., 1st sect. vol. 50. p. 219.
A re there any among the writcrsupon oar native h i S l i lm have seen the Pine-Grosbeak in a state of nature ?
I really think not. Pennant, it is tv,to. states that he saw a small flock flying about tn the forest of Inver-
c an id ; bat as it does not appear that he obtained a specimen, I am mchned to believe that he was deee.ted
as t o t h e s p e c i e s , and mistook Crossbills for Piue-Grosbeaks. Messrs.. . . . an . ames age men i ,
their ■ Natural H istory o f Yarmouth,' that a flight was seen in November 1822 on the G e n e s ,- a very unlikely
place to see Pine-Grosheaks , and as no fe c im e n was obtained, I mast be allowed r^pectfnlly to donh tlm
fact I question if Montagu, Gilbert White, Selby, Yarrell, o r Macgill.yray ever saw a lm n g ex a ra jd c ; neither
have I who have travelled far and wide, with an eye always attentive to the appearance of any bird strange
to me ’ M r Ryland, in his ' Catalogue of the Birds of Lancashire,’ includes the Pme-Grosbeak as havingbeen
Hulstone 8r trees on the authority of T . K. Glazcbrook, E sq.; “ and a female in my own collection,
V red was shot some vvn- ago at Harrow-on-the-Hill." These assertions are a little more tangible,
S U n T l c doubtful Mr Stevenson, in the first volume of his ■ Birds of Norfolk,' repeats the account of
the flight on the Denes, in 1822, and the statement in the ■ Zoologist,' p. 1313, that apair were shot I,
Rnveningbam in the act of building. Mr. Lubbock also states that apair were preserved m Yarmouth, whic
had been shot near that'Sty; but as these* according to Mr Stevenson, are no longer .a
remains no proof that the species was actually killed there. I would not for a moment have t inferred that
. . . , .• ■ , Great Britain: at the same time, I consider it is
the bird has no claim to . . . aMi mat it will continue to do so'occabut
an indifferent one. That it has now and then \isited , „nmnarPil with the
sionally is more than probable, particularly when we remember that a mere strait of sea, as “
Atlantic separates our island from the bird's natural home. If we pay a visit to the g c
of Norway, Lapland, Finland, and Russia, we shall, with the aid of a little patience .bauble to new this
true^pine-loving bird in its native haunts, and by diligent scare,h find its nest and a # a n oppor h*
of observing it. curious and interesting habits. Mr. Wolley made himself as ranch acquainted withrt em as
circumstances would admit, as did also Mr. Wheelwright. From the writings of both of these p i e m e n
(who, unhappily, now only live in our memory) 1 shall make such extracts as bear upon the present
8"xhoSe who have read the foregoing lines will have gleaned: that the bird is only an accidental Air
v e r y occasional visitor to these island;, and that its true home is the northern part o f the adjoining
I continent. Most authors have affirmed that it also inhabits N orthern and Arctic America; but latterly, mid
think rightly, the American bird has been regarded as distinct from the European and the name of | g g * | ^
preposed for it by Brisson re long ago as .760, reinstated. The American birds are always much larger
„ cver„ respect than those inhabiting Sweden and Lapland; but in colour they are very similar. As, however
species are often instituted upon much more slender differences, they may be regarded as distinc .
They are the only known members of a form to which at least six generic terms have been applied ; there,
/Ymho/a appears to be the o h .e s .; and I have therefore, like some of my more recent contemporaries,
ad° Tim‘following quotations,” rev. Mr. Hewitson, “ are from the pen of Mr. Wolley, to whom naturalism
are grredy in lh t e d for having so' persevering.y traced out and brought home the previous y u„,known ^
o f this species The Pine-Grosbeak? though plentiful in Sweden during the winter, has been ' H
go to the East for the breeding-season ; and. generally speaking, this is probably t ru e ; bn. m the north.
„„,1 eastern part of Swedish Lapland, a , well as in Finnish Lapland a few Pme-Grosiwak, m ^ c their o ^
“ Mr. Wolley made frequent excursions during the winter months, in the hope g •
which to guide his search in the ensuing spring, and on one occasion found a i v e r y i . ^ ^
Turtledove, in a young fir tree, six feet above the ground, which he had no doubt be! ge