466 MICHEGAN BIRD LIFE. 



and Illinois and the area of eastern North America covered was the greatest 

 known up to that time, but this was very much exceeded by the wide 

 distribution of the species in the winter of 1889-90, when although they do 

 not appear to have been as numerous in some localities as in the last pre- 

 ceding dispersal, they reached nearly to the Atlantic Coast at several 

 localities" (Auk, IX, 1892, 246-247). 



During their winter sojourn in Michigan the Evening Grosbeaks feed 

 largely upon the seeds of maple, box-elder, ash, and of various frozen or 

 dried fruits from trees and vines, and frequently upon the seeds of various 

 cone-bearing trees. According to Mr. L. Whitney Watkins, who observed 

 them carefully at Manchester, Mich, during the winter of 1889-90, they 

 preferred apple seeds, taken from frozen apples, to all other food ; next they 

 ate maple seeds, and took the seeds of evergreens only as a last resort. 

 Three male grosbeaks which he kept in captivity for nearly two years re- 

 fused to eat any kind of grain except a few oats when hard-pressed. They 

 also refused to eat insects of any kind that could be procured. Almost 

 all observers agree that the birds are remarkably tame and unsuspicious 

 when they first appear in late autumn or winter, moving about and feeding 

 often in large flocks (very seldom singly) and show little fear of man until 

 after they have been repeatedly shot at or otherwise alarmed. Towards 

 spring, however, and especially toward the end of their stay in April and 

 May, they become more shy and more suspicious and are altogether more 

 restless and uncertain. 



The nest and eggs of this species remained unknown until 1901, when 

 they were found at Willis, New Mexico by Francis J. Birtwell, who collected 

 two nests of three and four eggs respectively and lost his life in attempting 

 to collect a third. The nests were of sticks and Usnea moss, lined with 

 rootlets, and placed near the tips of horizontal branches of large pines, 

 from forty to seventy feet from the ground. The eggs are described as 

 "in color, size, form, texture and markings, indistinguishable from those 

 of the Red-winged Blackbird. '' The birds appeared to be nesting in a small 

 colony of a dozen pairs or less. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Bill very large, short and strong, nearly as high at base as long. Adult male: Forehead 

 and stripe over eye bright yellow; crown deep black; rest of head and neck all round, dark 

 olive-brown, fading to lighter olive on the back and changing to rich golden yellow on the 

 scapulars and rump; similarly, the dusky olive of the throat fades on the breast and be- 

 comes bright yellow on the sides, belly, flanks and under tail-coverts; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail deep black, without spots; primaries deep black; most of the secondaries and their 

 coverts snowy white; the tertiaries rather duller white; bill greenish yellow; iris brown. 



Adult female: Top and sides of head brownish or brownish-gray; throat white, bordered 

 on each side by a black or dusky line; breast and sides gray, marked with yellowish, and 

 becoming pure white on belly and under tail-coverts; nape dull yellow, tending to form a 

 collar about the hind neck; back and rump brownish or ashy gray; upper tail-coverts black, 

 tipped witli white; tail-feathers black, broadly spotted with white at ends; primaries and 

 secondai-ics black, boldly spotted witli white; lining of wing yellow. Young: Similar to 

 adult female, but duller and more brownish, usually lacking the dark lines at the sides 

 of tlie throat. Length 7 to 8.50 inches; wing 4.20 to 4.50; tail 2.75 to 3.20; culmen .75 to .80. 



207. Pine Grosbeak. Pinicola enucleator leucura (Mull.). (515) 



Synonyms: American Pine Grosbeak, Canadian Pine Grosbeak, Canadian Grosbeak, 

 Pine Bullfinch. — Loxia leucura, Muller, 1776. — Loxia enucleator, Wils. — Pinicola cana- 

 densis, Baird, 1858. — Pinicola enucleator canadensis, Ridgw., 1887. 



Males vary from rose-pink to dull yellow, according to age, and females 

 are mainly slate-gray with some dull yellow on head, rump and upper 



