464 



MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



206. Evening Grosbeak. Hesperiphona vespertina vespertina (Coop.). (514) 



Synonyms : Sugar-bird. — Fringilla 

 vespertina, A. O. U. Check-list, 1886. 



vespertina, W. Cooper, 1825. — Coccothraustes 

 -Hesperipliona vespertina of most recent authors. 



Figure 110. 



The male is a striking bird with immense bill, with black and white 

 and old gold plumage, the yellow and black passing into each other through 

 all the shades of brown, olive and buff. The female is largely drab-gray 

 or ashy with little or no yellow and more white in the wings and tail. 



Distribution. — Western British Provinces, east to Lake Superior and 

 casually to Michigan, Ohio, Ontario, New York and New England. 



The Evening Grosbeak is doubly interesting to Michigan bird lovers 

 not only because it is a rare and beautiful bird, but because the first speci- 

 men known to science, the 



type from which the species 

 was described, was taken 

 near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., 

 in April, 1823, by School- 

 craft, and described by 

 Cooper, in January, 1825, 

 under the name Fringilla 

 vespertina, the specific name 

 given apparently under the 

 belief that the bird sang 

 oftenest or best at evening. 

 As a matter of fact, the song 

 appears to be the least inter- 

 esting of its characteristics, 

 nor does it appear to sing 

 better or more frequently at 

 evening than at other times. 

 Mr. Stewart E. White, who 

 observed these grosbeaks 

 carefully at Grand Rapids 

 from March 5 to May 14, 

 1890, says of their song: 



"The males have a single Fig. no. Evening Grosbeak. Adult. 



metallic crv like the note of ^''O"^ North .\merican Fauna No. 16. Biological Survey, 



a trumpet, the females a loud 



U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



chattering like the large Cherry Birds {Ampelis garrulus)." This was in 

 March, but on April 14, just before they withdrew to their summer home, 

 Mr. White adds, "Their song now is a wandering, jerky warble, beginning 

 low, suddenly increasing in power, and as suddenly ceasing as if the singer 

 were out of breath" (Auk, Vol. IX, 1892, p. 245). 



It may be objected that this was not nesting time and the locality not 

 home. However, J. K. Townsend, who studied tliis bird along the Columbia 

 River in May 1836, Avrote for Audubon's work the following account of the 

 call-note and song. "It is stated that they are retiring and silent during 

 the day and sing only at the approach of evening. Here they are re- 

 markably noisy during the whole of the day from sunrise to sunset. They 

 then retire quietly to their roosts in the summits of the tall pines and are 



