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GROSBEAK (Fr. Grosbec)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 616 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GROSBEAK (Fr. Grosbec) , a name very indefinitely applied to many birds belonging to the families Fringillidae and Ploceidae of See also:modern ornithologists, and perhaps to some members of the Emberizidae and Tanagridae, but always to birds distinguished by the See also:great See also:size of their See also:bill. Taken alone it is commonly a synonym of See also:hawfinch (q.v.), but a prefix is usually added to indicate the See also:species, as See also:pine-grosbeak, See also:cardinal-grosbeak and the like. By See also:early writers the word was generally given as an See also:equivalent of the Linnaean Loxia, but that genus has been found to include many forms not now placed in the same See also:family. The Pine-grosbeak (Pinicola enudeator) inhabits the conifer-See also:zone of both the Old and the New Worlds, seeking, in See also:Europe and pzobably elsewhere, a See also:lower See also:latitude as See also:winter approaches—often journeying in large flocks; stragglers have occasionally reached the See also:British Islands (See also:Yarrell, Br. Birds, ed. 4, ii. 177-179). In structure and some of its habits much resembling a See also:bullfinch, but much exceeding that See also:bird in size, it has the plumage of a See also:crossbill and appears to undergo the same changes as do the members of the restricted genus Loxia—the See also:young being of a dull greenish-See also:grey streaked with brownish-See also:black, the adult hens tinged with See also:golden-See also:green, and the cocks glowing with See also:crimson-red on nearly all the See also:body-feathers, this last See also:colour being replaced after moulting in confinement by See also:bright yellow. Nests of this species were found in 1821 by Johana Wilhelm Zetterstedt near Juckasjarwi in See also:Swedish See also:Lapland, but little was known concerning its See also:nidification until 1855, when See also:John Wolley, after two years' ineffectual See also:search, succeeded in obtaining near the Finnish See also:village Muonioniska, on the Swedish frontier, well-authenticated specimens with the eggs, both of which are like exaggerated bullfinches'. The See also:food of this species seems to consist of the seeds and buds of many sorts of trees, though the See also:staple may very possibly be those of some See also:kind of pine. Allied to the pine-grosbeak are a number of species of smaller size, but its equals in beauty of plumage.' They have been referred to several genera, such as Carpodacus, Propasser, Bycanetes, Uragus and others; but possibly Carpodacus is sufficient to contain all.

Most of them are natives of the Old See also:

World, and chiefly of its eastern See also:division, but several inhabit the western portion of See also:North See also:America, and one, C. githagineus (of which there seem to be at least two See also:local races), is an especial native of the deserts, or their See also:borders, of See also:Arabia and North See also:Africa, extending even to some of the See also:Canary Islands—a singular modification in the See also:habitat of a See also:form which one would be See also:apt to See also:associate exclusively with See also:forest trees, and especially conifers. The cardinal grosbeak, or Virginian See also:nightingale, Cardinalis virginianus, claims See also:notice here, though doubts may be entertained as to the family to which it really belongs. It is no less remarkable for its bright See also:carmine attire, and an elongated See also:crest of the same colour, than for its See also:fine See also:song. Its ready See also:adaptation to confinement has made it a popular cage-bird on both sides of the See also:Atlantic. The See also:hen is not so See also:good a songster as the See also:cock bird. Her plumage, with exception of the wings and tail, which are of a dull red, is See also:light-See also:olive above and brownish-yellow beneath. This species inhabits the eastern parts of the See also:United States southward of 400 N. See also:lat., and also occurs in the See also:Bermudas. It is represented in the See also:south-See also:west of North America by other forms that by some writers are deemed species, and in the See also:northern parts of South America by the C. phoeniceus, which would really seem entitled to distinction. Another kindred bird placed from its See also:short and broad bill in a different genus, and known as Pyrrhuloxia sinuata or the Texan cardinal, is found on the See also:southern borders of the United States and in See also:Mexico; while among North See also:American " grosbeaks " must also be named the birds belonging to the genera Guiraca and Hedymeles—th,e former especially exemplified by the beautiful See also:blue G. caerulea, and the latter by the brilliant See also:rose-breasted H. ludovicianus, which last extends its range into See also:Canada. 1 Many of them are described and illustrated in the Monographie See also:des loxiens of See also:Prince C. L. See also:Bonaparte and See also:Professor See also:Schlegel (1850), though it excludes many birds which an See also:English writer would See also:call " grosbeaks." The species of the Old World which, though commonly called " grosbeaks," certainly belong to the family Ploceidae, are treated under See also:WEAVER-BIRD.

(A.

End of Article: GROSBEAK (Fr. Grosbec)

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