68 THE WESTERN EVENING GROSBEAK. 



the aggrej^ate the saving U> the natinn aim units to some liiindreds of tlious- 

 ands of dcillars eacli year. Even in winter, when a few individuals or occa- 

 sional cinnpanies of Larks are still tO' he found, a large proportion of their 

 food consists of hardy heetles and other insects, while weed-seed and scatter- 

 ing grain is laid under triliute, as it were, reluctantly. 



It g'oes without saying that we cannot regard this liird as lawful game. 

 We exempt the horse from slaughter not because its flesh is unfit for food — ■ 

 it is really very sapid — hut because the animal has endeared itself to our race 

 by generations of faithful service. We place the horse in another category, 

 that of animal friend. And the human race, the best of it, has some time 

 since discovered compunctions about eating its friends. Make friends with 

 this bonny bird, the Meadowlark, and you will be ashamed thenceforth to 

 even discuss assassination. Fricassee of prima donna! Voice of morning 

 en hrochcttc! Bird-of-merry-cheer on toast! Faugh! And yet that sort 

 of thing passed muster a generation agO' — does yet in the darker parts of 

 Europe ! 



No. 23. 



WESTERN EVENING GROSBEAK. 



A. O. U. No. 514a. Hesperiphona vespertina montana Ridgway. 



Description. — Adult male: Forehead and superciliarics gaiuljoge yellow; 

 feathers about base of bill, lores, and crown black ; wings black with large white 

 patch formed by tips of inner secondaries and tertials ; tail black ; remaining 

 plumage sooty olive brown about head and neck, shading thru olive and olive- 

 green to yellow on wing and under tail-coverts. Bill bluish horn-color and citron 

 yellow; feet brownish. Adult female: General color deep smoky brownish gray 

 or huffy brown, darker on the head, lighter on wings, lighter, more buffy, on sides, 

 shading to dull whitish on throat and alidonien, tinged with yellowish green on 

 hind-neck, clearing to light yellow on axillars and under wing-coverts ; a small 

 clear white patch at base of inner ]3rimaries ; white blotches on tips of upper 

 tail-coverts and inner webs of tail-feathers in varying proportions. Length about 

 8.00 (203.2) : wing 4.39 (111.5) ; tail 2.42 (61.4) ; bill .82 (20.8) ; depth at base 

 .62 ( 15.0 ) ; tarsus. 81 ( 20.3 ). Female very slightly smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size; olive-brown coloration with black and 

 white in masses on wings; large, conical beak distinctive; high-pitched call note. 



Nesting. — Has not yet been found breeding in Washington but undoubtedly 

 does so. Nest (as reported from New Mexico): principally composed of fine 

 rootlets with some Usnea moss and a few sticks, settled upon horizontal branches 

 of pine or fir, near tip, and at considerable heights ; in loose colonies. Eggs: 4, 

 "in color, size, form, and texture indistinguishable from those of the Red-winged 

 Blackbird" ( Birtwell). 



