WESTERN BIRDS Grosbeak 



breeds from the Gulf coast to southern Pennsylvania and 

 southeastern Nebraska. The two races merge in eastern 

 Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, both wintering below the 

 United States. 



During the nesting season the Blue Grosbeak is locally 

 abundant in the southern and western part of its range, 

 being in some places a familiar garden and orchard bird. 

 But in the eastern part of the Mississippi Valley, and 

 in the Atlantic States, it is shy, and rather rare. Here 

 it is a frequenter of thickets of shrubs, weed-bordered 

 streams, or brush-covered clearings, where the nest is 

 placed in a low bush, or vine. 



Chapman gives the usual note as a harsh ptchick, and 

 the song as beautiful, though rather feeble, and although 

 bearing a resemblance to that of the Rose-breasted, it 

 also is somewhat like the Purple Finch song. 



McAtee says that its pleasing song and engaging ap- 

 pearance have made it a favorite cage-bird among the 

 southern Creoles, who know it as the "blue pop." 



Like the other Grosbeaks the bird is economically of 

 great value to the farmer and deserves protection. 



Grinnell says of these birds in California that they are 

 common summer visitants to the interior valleys west of 

 the Sierran divide, breeding chiefly within the Lower 

 Sonoran zone. Common locally in the San Diegan dis- 

 trict and quite generally throughout the San Joaquin- 

 Sacramento basin from Onyx, Kern Co., north to Chico, 

 Butte Co. 



They are first seen in Los Angeles, and vicinity, in 

 April. A few nests have been found in this part of the 

 State but the birds are not so common as we would like. 

 My only glimpse of them was along the river bottom 

 near Riverside one springtime. 



These birds seem especially fond of mustard fields and 

 one may look for their nests in low bushes along the edge 

 of a dry wash in a mustard field, or in low willow 



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