THE WESTERN EVENING GROSBEAK. 69 



General Range. — \\'estern United States and Northern Mexico; east to and 

 inclndinj; Ivocky Mountains; nortli to British Columbia. 



Range in Washington. — Co-extensive with evergreen timber and appearing 

 irregularly elsewhere. Resident within State but roving locally. Winters regu- 

 larly in parks of the larger cities. 



Authorities. — ? Fringilla vcsl^crtina Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 

 VIII. 1839, 154 (Columbia R.). Hcspcriphona i'cs[^crtiiia Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. 

 Surv. IX. 1858, 409. T. C&S. Ra. Kk. B. E. 



Specimens.— U. of W. P'. Prov. P.. E. 



SPARROWS are also called Cune-bills ; it is, therefore, fair that the bird 

 with the Ijiggest cone shotild take precedence in a family history. But for this 

 primacy there are damaging limitations. The Grosbeak is neither the most 

 beautiful nor the most tuneful of the Fringillid;e, if he is by common consent 

 rated the oddest. His garb is a patchwork; his srmg a series of shrieks; his 

 motions eccentric; his humor phlegmatic; and his concepts beyond the ken 

 of man. Altho at times one of the most approachable of birds, he is, on the 

 whole, an avian freak, a rebus in feathers. 



Perhaps we make too much of a mystery of him, just as we rate the owl 

 highest in wisdom f(.)r the single discretion of silence, which any dunderhead 

 may attain. But now take this group in the park; just what are they at? 

 They sit there stulidly in the rowan tree where all the passersby mav take note 

 of them, giving vent ever and anon to e.xplosive yelps, but doing nothing by 

 the hour, until an insane impulse seizes one of their number to be off tO' some 

 other scene no' better, be it near or far, and the rest yield shrieking consent by 

 default of alternative idea. It is all so unreasonalile, so uncannv, that it 

 irritates us. 



Exening Grosbeaks are semi-gregarious the xear around, but are seen to 

 best advantage in winter or earlv spring, when thev flock c](jsely and visit 

 city parks or wooded lawns. One is oftenest attracted to their temporary 

 quarters by the startling and disconnected noises which are flung out broad- 

 cast. It may be that the flock is absorbed in the depths of a small fir, so that 

 one may come up near enough to analyze the sound. Three sorts of notes are 

 plainly distinguishable: a low murmuring of pure tones, quite pleasant to the 

 ear; a harsh but subdued rattle, or alarm note, ivzzzt or icaccp. familiarly 

 similar to that of the Crossbill; and the high-|)itched shriek, which dis- 

 tinguishes the bird from all others, (///»/'. .\ little attention brings to light 

 the fact that all the birds in the flock bring out this astonishing iinte at 

 precisely flic same pitch. Once distinguished, this note will serve again and 

 again to draw attention to this uncanny fowl, as it passes overhead or loses 

 itself in the bosom of some giant conifer. 



