Length: A little over 9 inches; slightly larger than his cousin, the cardinal, and nearly an inch smaller than the robin.

General Appearance: A red bird with brown and white wings, a brown tail, and a heavy beak.

Male: A bright raspberry-red, deepest on the head, breast, rump, and upper tail-coverts; the rest of the body a slaty gray, lighter underneath, with a soft red breast; wings dark brown, edged with white, forming two broad wing-bars; tail forked; beak large and strong, with a small hook at the end.

Female: Slaty gray, with head, rump, and upper tail-coverts olive-yellow where the male’s are red; under parts washed with yellow: wings and tail brown; wings edged with white; two wing-bars.

Young: Similar to female.

Song: A loud, clear whistle, given while on the wing. In spring, a melodious nesting song.

Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in the tree-regions of Canada, in the White Mts., and Maine; winters south to Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, (and occasionally to the District of Columbia and Kentucky), westward to Manitoba, Minnesota, and Kansas.

This brilliant, handsome Pine Grosbeak is comparatively unknown in the United States, but wherever he appears as a rare visitor, he is hailed with enthusiasm or excitement because of his beautiful color. He resembles his cousin, the purple finch, in color and markings, but is much larger.

Thoreau says, “When some rare northern bird like the pine grosbeak is seen thus far south in the winter, he does not suggest poverty, but dazzles us with his beauty. There is in them a warmth akin to the warmth that melts the icicle. Think of these brilliant, warm-colored, and richly-warbling birds, birds of paradise, dainty-footed, downy-clad, in the midst of a New England, a Canadian winter.”[13]

The Pine Grosbeak “is of gentle, unobtrusive manner, almost entirely fearless of man’s approach, and always seems to be perfectly contented with its situation wherever encountered. A whole tree full of these birds may be seen feeding on the seeds of mountain ash berries, apples, or the buds of beeches. One may stand within a few feet of them for a long time without their taking any notice of one’s presence. They are slow and deliberate in manner. Their flight, however, is rather rapid and aggressive, slightly undulating.”[14]

They are silent, uninteresting birds, awkward in their movements. They are very hardy, and roam southward when the severe Canadian winters send them forth in search of food. Seeds of cone-bearing trees, sumac and mountain ash berries are their favorite winter diet. They return to their northern nesting places when few birds would consider it seemly to set up housekeeping.