PINICOLA ENUCLEATOR.
Pine-Grosbeak.
Loxia enucleator, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 81.
psittacea, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 5.
Fringilla enucleator, Temm. Man. d’Orn., p. 198.
Pyrrhula enucleator, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit? tom. i p. 333.
Vinicola, Virili. Ois. d’Amér. Sept., tom. i. p. 4.
Strobilopliaga enucleator, Virili. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. ix. p. 609.
Corgthus enucleator, Cuv. Règn. Anim., edit. 1816, tom. i. p. 415.
Pyrrhula ( Corythus) enucleator, Keys. & Bias. Wirbelth. Bur., p. 40.
Pinicola enucleator. Cab. in Ersch u. Grub. Encycl., 1st sect. vol. 50. p. 219.
A r e there any among the writers upon our native birds who have seen the Pine-Grosbeak in a state of nature ?
I really think not. Pennant, it is true, states that he saw a small flock flying about in the forest of Inver-
caiild ; but as it does not appear tbat he obtained a specimen, I am inclined to believe that he was deceived
as to the species, and mistook Crossbills for Pine-Grosbeaks. Messrs. O r J . and James Paget mention, in
their ‘ Natural History of Yarmouth,' that a flight was seen in November 1822, on the Denes,—a very unlikely
place to see Pine-Grosbeaks ; and as no specimen was obtained, I must be allowed respectfully to doubt the
fact. I question if Montagu, Gilhert White, Selby, Yarrell, or Macgillivray ever saw a living example; neither
have I, who have travelled far and wide, with an eye always attentive to the appearance of any bird strange
to me. Mr. Ryland, in his ‘ Catalogue of the Birds of Lancashire,' includes the Pine-Grosbeak as having been
obtained in Hulstone fir trees, on the authority of T. K. Glazebrook, Esq.; “ and a female in iny own collection,’
says Yarrell, g was shot some years ago at Harrow-on-the-Hill." These assertions are a little more tangible,
but still to me doubtful. Mr. Stevenson, in the first volume of his ! Birds of Norfolk,’ repeats the account of
the flight seen on the Denes, in 1822, and the statement in the ■ Zoologist,’ p. 1313, that a pair were shot in
Raveuingham in the act of building. Mr. Lubbock also states that a pair were preserved in Yarmouth, which
had been shot near that city; but as these,.according to Mr. Stevenson, are no longer in existence, there
remains no proof that the species was actually killed there. I would not for a moment have 1 inferred that
the bird has no claim to be admitted into the avifauna of Great Britain; at the same time, I consider it ,s
but an indifferent one. That it has now and then visited us is certain; and tbat it will continue to do so occasionally
is more than probable, particularly w h e n we remember that a mere strait of sea, as compared with the
Atlantic, separates our island from the bird’s natural home. If we pay a visit to the great primeval forests
of Norway, Lapland, Finland, and Russia, we shall, with the aid of a little patience, be able to view this
true pine-loving bird in its native haunts, and by diligent search find its nest and have an opportunity
of observing its curious and interesting habits. Mr. Wolley made himself as much acquainted with them as
circumstances would admit, as did also Mr. Wheelwright. From the writings of both of these gentlemen
(who, unhappily, now only live in our memory) I shall make such extracts as bear upon the present
M who have read the foregoing lines will have gleaned ’that the bird is only an accidental or
very occasional visitor to these islands, and that its true home is the northern part of the adjoining
continent. Most authors have affirmed that it also inhabits Northern and Arctic America ; but latterly, and
think rightly, the American bird has been regarded as distinct from the European, and the name of Camdems,
proposed for it by Brisson as long ago as 1760, reinstated. The American birds are always much larger
in every respect than those inhabiting Sweden and Lapland ; but in colour they are very similar. As, how-
ever, species are often instituted upon much more slender differences, they may be regarded as distinct.
They are the only known members of a form to which at least six generic terms have been applied ; of these,
Pinicola appears to be the oldest; and I have therefore, like some of my more recent contemporaries,
‘‘The following quotations," says Mr. Hewitson, “ a r e f r o m the pen of Mr. Wolley, to whom naturalists
are greatly indebted for having so perseveringly traced out and brought home the previously unknown eggs
of this species ‘The Pine-Grosbeak, though plentiful in Sweden during the winter, has been supposed to
go to the East for the breeding-season; and, generally speaking, this is probably tru e ; but in the northern
and eastern part of Swedish Lapland, as well as in Finnish Lapland, a few Pine-Grosbeaks make their nests.
“ Mr. Wolley made frequent excursions during the winter months, in the hope of finding old nests by
which to guide his search in the ensuing spring, and on one occasion found a nest very like that of the
Turtledove, in a young fir tree, six feet above the ground, which he had no doubt belonged to this species.